Opposition vs Election Commission: Dispute Over Voter List Integrity

The parliamentary session is underway, and the country's opposition is protesting in the streets against the Election Commission due to discrepancies in the voter lists. Twenty-five opposition political parties claim that the Election Commission's revision of the voter list in Bihar is flawed, as it was completed in just one month and resulted in the removal of over 6.5 million voters' names. It is crucial to recognize that in a democracy, the most significant voice is the 'Lok Swar,' as the elected representatives in Parliament serve as its protectors.

This Lok Swar becomes synonymous with the majority, forming both the government and the opposition in the country. However, in this system, the Election Commission is responsible for establishing this Lok Swar through the people's right to vote. In a democracy, political parties and the citizens are the primary stakeholders. While the majority and minority are determined by numbers in Parliament, both parties represent the Lok Swar. The party that secures a majority in the Lok Sabha forms the government, but the Election Commission is the sole institution that lays the foundation for democracy.

If the credibility of the Election Commission is questioned, it casts doubt on the entire system. However, in India, there has never been a situation where a political party has protested against the Election Commission's role. The Election Commission asserts that it has the constitutional right to periodically update voter lists, a right that cannot be contested. Nonetheless, it is also the Commission's duty to ensure that the public has no doubts about the accuracy of these lists. To maintain this integrity, the constitution's framers established the Election Commission as an independent and autonomous body, separate from the government, similar to the judiciary. This independence was intended to ensure that in a free India, governments at both national and state levels could be elected through the constitutional right of voting granted to every legitimate Indian citizen. In a democracy, our forebears empowered voters so that every five years, leaders from the Prime Minister to state Chief Ministers must seek approval from the electorate for their performance. Hence, the voter is regarded as the sovereign in a democracy.

Through his votes, he decides the government every five years and gives instructions as to which party's government he would like to see. Obviously, the Election Commission arranges this and discharges its duties by taking power directly from the Constitution. But today a strange situation has arisen. On one side is the Election Commission which is saying that the voter list prepared by it is completely above doubts and on the other side is the entire opposition which is saying that there is a big mistake in its voter list. From the opposition side, the front is being led by the leader of the Congress Party, Mr. Rahul Gandhi. The government does not come between Rahul Gandhi and the Election Commission, but the public definitely does, because it is the owner of democracy. The job of the Election Commission is to protect the authorized rights of this public. We have to keep in mind that with the purpose of making the public the master in democracy, the Constitution makers gave the right of one vote equally to every adult Indian, which was named as a priceless right.

Its value cannot be estimated in democracy. Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi had promised to give this right to the people during the freedom movement in the thirties itself. The fight for freedom was not only to get freedom from the British, but it was also to make the common Indian the owner of this country because during the two hundred years of British rule, the feeling of slavery had taken root in the people. To get rid of this slave mentality, Bapu himself gave power to every Indian through a vote. Therefore, it is the sacred duty of the Election Commission to protect the right to vote in a strong manner and also ensure that this right does not go in the hands of any illegal citizen and no legal citizen is left out, but the opposition is alleging that the Election Commission is creating illegal voters in such a way that the same voter is voting multiple times and at multiple places.

The Election Commission is tasked with addressing this issue and must be fully transparent to the public regarding its operations, as the election system is designed to safeguard public interests and rights. However, the opposition also bears the responsibility of thoroughly verifying its claims without negligence. All data should be based on official Election Commission documents. Rahul Gandhi asserts that the voter statistics he presented for the Mahadevpura assembly constituency in Karnataka are derived from Commission-issued documents, necessitating verification by the Commission. Rahul Gandhi, holding a 'constitutional' position as the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, emphasizes the Election Commission's role as a constitutional body accountable for its actions. The Commission has the authority to remove any illegal voters from the list, ensuring that no legitimate voter is excluded in the process.