Title: Electronic distraction: On politics and the ‘EVM issue’
After consecutive electoral losses, in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Congress has raised the tempo with regard to its concerns about electronic voting machines (EVM). While there are numerous issues related to the integrity of elections that the Election Commission of India (ECI) needs to come clean on, the risk of electronic tampering with EVMs is not among them. The Congress is barking up the wrong tree — that too selectively and only when it loses. Some of its party leaders have publicly expressed the view that there is no evidence that suggests the risk of manipulation, remotely or through preprogramming. At least two Opposition leaders, NC leader and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, have distanced themselves from the allegations. To assume that EVMs are so elaborately and precisely manipulated that the BJP wins in some States and loses in some others in a detailed conspiracy, defies logic. After all, the BJP ended up short of a majority in the 2024 general election. Moreover, all these results, particularly those of Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand are well explained by the social and political dynamics at play.
By repeatedly raising the spectre of EVM manipulation, the real and serious questions of election integrity are being overlooked. Among them, the possibility of old style, manual capture of EVMs in booths dominated by one party and where polling agents of opponents are absent. This is pertinent against the backdrop of questions about a massive turnout recorded in many places in the closing hours of polling. This trend has not yet been satisfactorily explained by the ECI. Large-scale additions and deletions of voter names are now a pattern, and the ECI seems to be brazening it out. In Delhi, where elections are now due, allegations of the selective removal of Muslim voters have surfaced. In the Uttar Pradesh by-elections, partisan police actions that restrained voters expected to vote against the BJP have been controversial. The scheduling of elections is another serious question that the ECI has been less than transparent about. For a country that is preparing to conduct all elections in one go, it scheduled the three recent Assembly elections in two batches, and the BJP is the one party that gained the benefits. As is evident, some of these issues are local, some related to the vast capacity gap between the BJP and the Opposition while some others are squarely in the court of the ECI. The Opposition needs to focus on the real questions of election integrity, and an EVM scare should not act as a distraction.
Meaning of the word:
| Word | Meaning | Synonyms | Antonyms |
| Integrity | Integrity refers to the quality of being honest, having strong moral principles, and consistently adhering to ethical standards. | Honesty Morality Ethics Rectitude | Dishonesty Corruption Deceit Fraudulence |
| Conspiracy | Conspiracy refers to a secret plan or agreement between two or more people to carry out an unlawful, harmful, or deceitful act. | Plot Scheme Collusion Intrigue | Honesty Transparency Openness Truthfulness |
| Pertinent | Pertinent means relevant, appropriate, or directly related to the matter at hand. It describes something that is significant and applicable to a specific context or situation. | Relevant Applicable Appropriate Related | Irrelevant Inappropriate Unrelated Immaterial |
