Narendra Modi-Era Elections Are No Longer Believed Free And Fair

The opposition has always been claiming that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is being controlled by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ECI has been working to ensure that BJP wins elections in the country. They alleged that ECI is compromised while the Modi government asserted that the constitutional body is independent. Now the Supreme Court of India has asked “Why this show-off about independence?” The question makes us rethink if elections are free and fair in the Modi Era in light of the decisions and observations made by the Supreme Court in the last several years?

The Supreme Court of India is currently hearing the challenges to the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 which was past just before the Lok Sabha Election of 2024. The Bench observed that free and fair elections depend on a truly independent ECI.

During the hearing the Bench pointed out the absence of even “one absolutely neutral person” on the selection committee chaired by Prime Minister. The presence of a Cabinet Minister in the committee was also questioned by the Bench observing that such a minister could not be expected to defy the Prime Minister, and asked whether the presence of the Leader of Opposition on the committee was merely “ornamental”. Since appointments could be done effectively by the Executive by 2:1 majority, “Why this show-off of independence in appointment of election commissioner?”

The Bench observed if the Chief Justice of India (CJI) could be part of the appointment process for the director of the CBI, then here was no reason why an independent process could not be followed for the appointment of the CEC and ECs, which is more important as it directly concerned “upholding democracy and free and fair elections”. It emphasized that ECI “should not only be neutral but it should look neutral in its functioning.”

It should be noted that earlier CJI used to be part of the selection committee but the Modi government removed CJI from the appointment committee. Under the current structure, the government can appoint “person of its choice”. Hence the appointment of the current CEC and other ECs do not appear credible to the public.

The observation of the Bench has political significance because it has indicated serious judicial concern regarding executive influence over the ECI, appearance of bias, and whether institutional safeguards for free and fail elections are being weakened. The courts reasoning connects directory to electoral neutrality, public confidence, and constitutional democracy. An Election Commission dependent on the executive for its appointment risks losing institutional credibility especially when ruling party itself contests elections under supervision of ECI.

The recent West Bengal election has shown direct relationship between the election and appointments. The Special Observer for SIR and the Chief Electoral Officer were allegedly remained loyal to the BJP and helped the party to win, and when BJP won, they were appointed advisor and Chief Secretary of the new BJP government. The ECI appointed by the BJP under the new law of 2023, had appointed both the observer and the CEO.

Rahul Gandhi had publicly shown how electoral rolls were manipulated by adding voters from other states to influence the electoral outcome of the state in favour of the BJP in Karnataka and in Haryana as examples. Such additions of voters were done under the presumption of legality. After the expose, the ECI supported by BJP started SIR in Bihar, and this time to delete large number of voters in the name of cleanup of electoral roll. Supreme Court intervened to get lakhs of voters included, but many left out of the voter list and could not vote. This helped the BJP to win election in Bihar and more recently in West Bengal. In case of West Bengal, the Supreme Court has asked the aggrieved TMC to file separate case. The Supreme Court is also hearing the cases under the SIR, but no final decision has come out yet.

BJP thus goes on winning elections, and the Supreme Court is still hearing the case. It is a social political concern that goes beyond the scope and ambit of the Supreme court, because it is not likely to decide on the status of the elected government, even though excluded voters finally get their names included in the voter list.

We can say this on the basis of precedents in which Supreme Court of India found electoral bond scheme of the Modi government unconstitutional, but did nothing on the status of the elections which were fought by the money unconstitutionally collected by the scheme. The electoral bond scheme was introduced by the Modi government in 2018, and every election thereafter was fought by this illegal money collected under presumption of legality.

Supreme Court, in fact, in several judgements and observations during the Modi Era, has expressed concerns about practices that it said could undermine the constitutional principle of free and fair elections. In the 2024 electoral bond scheme judgement the court held that anonymous political funding violated citizen’s Right to Information under article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, unlimited corporate funding distorted electoral democracy, and the scheme violated the principle of free and fair elections.

The Apex Court had also said that allowing unlimited donations, including through shell companies, created the possibility of quid pro quo arrangements between corporations and ruling parties. It also said that the scheme enabled “unrestrained influence” of corporations over politics and elections.

The possibility of free and fair elections had actually erased if we take into consideration that how the electoral contests has become structurally unequal and Modi government has denied level playing electoral field, and ECI doing nothing. There has been allegations of even Modi government’s misusing central investigating agencies against opposition political parties and their leaders before and during elections with the soul purpose of disrupting their political campaigns. There has been unequal access to media and money. The government is also alleged of misusing government-media and administration.

It is under this backdrop India must try to restore people’s confidence on neutrality of the ECI in conducting free and fair elections in the country. We can’t ignore the assertions of the critics, opposition parties, former elections commissioners, constitutional scholars, common people that ECI appeared increasingly aligned with the Modi government. The latest observation by the Supreme Court indicates that independence of the ECI has been compromised. (IPA Service)