The debate electoral reforms in the winter session of Parliament remained largely confined to alleged vote theft and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Share
The much-awaited debate on electoral reforms in the winter session of Parliament was completely devoid of any new ideas aimed at further strengthening the democratic culture in the country. Instead, the debate not only failed to raise important issues related to electoral reforms but also turned into a mere blame game. It would have been better if Parliamentarians had chosen a different platform for this futile debate without wasting the precious time of Parliament.
Judging by the standard of the debate, it is difficult to understand what provoked the opposition to stall the proceedings of both Houses for a couple of days, especially after voicing anger over the short duration of the winter session, if they were not interested in raising long-pending issues such as state funding of elections, negating the influence of muscle power in the electoral process, and other matters mentioned in the Dinesh Goswami Commission report of the late eighties. It is a pity that throughout the debate, not a single speaker mentioned these issues, which are genuinely relevant to cleansing the election system in the country. Instead, the discussion remained largely confined to alleged vote theft and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Parliament is a platform where burning issues troubling the nation are discussed, and the government of the day provides policy direction to the executive based on the outcome of such debates. Clearly, in this case, parliamentarians were more interested in making allegations and counter-allegations, without showing any inclination to protect the dignity and purpose of Parliament. The lack of proper homework was evident from the very beginning of the debate, as the opposition continued to harp on vote theft while the treasury benches stuck to defending the SIR despite strong protests.
On the issue of vote theft, it must be mentioned that opposition parties, mainly the Congress—and more particularly Rahul Gandhi—have been raising the issue since suffering a drubbing at the hands of the BJP and its allies in the Maharashtra Assembly elections held shortly after the 2024 general elections. It has been alleged that more voters were enrolled in the electoral list in just six months after the general elections than during the previous four and a half years. The opposition parties have termed this sudden rise in voter numbers as highly suspicious. Similar allegations were made after the Haryana defeat as well. The opposition also approached the Supreme Court to stop the SIR process in Bihar but failed due to the absence of credible evidence.
Yet, without learning any lessons from these failures, the opposition insisted on debating the same issues in Parliament and returned empty-handed once again. The opposition could have achieved much by focusing on measures to ensure a fair electoral system that cannot be tampered with. Instead, they chose to sing the same banal songs and, in the process, missed a chance to corner the government.