EC vs Congress: The loss of constitutionality

The stand-off between the Election Commission and the Congress has reached a crescendo, with the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar just falling short of actually taking Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s name while rejecting his allegations of “vote theft”. Rather the poll body has sought an apology from the Congress, if it fails to prove its allegations on oath.

While Rahul seems to have pinned the Election Commission (EC) to a corner with his allegations of “vote theft”, the entire “back and forth” is looking like a slanging match.

The confrontation came to a head when Rahul alleged large-scale vote theft in the 2024 general election, citing case studies from the Mahadevapura Assembly segment within Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency. In response, the EC demanded a signed affidavit from the Leader of Opposition to support his claims, further challenging the party to apologise to the nation should it fail to provide such proof.

Since then, the Opposition has increased its pressure on the poll body, stalling proceedings in Parliament and criticising the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar, terming it as another example of ‘mass scale exclusion of poor and migrant voters’.

While the SIR issue is subjudice in Supreme Court, the standoff between the Opposition and the EC over allegations of vote theft shows little sign of resolution, particularly as Rahul Gandhi has now launched a two-week “Vote Adhikar Yatra” in Bihar to highlight the issue in the poll-bound state.

Though the Opposition is playing it’s role by highlighting the anomalies which might exist in the system, it is the job of the Election Commission as a Constitutional body to look into the allegations levelled by it, rather than taking on the Opposition.

The ongoing confrontation between the Congress and the EC is unprecedented in the history of Independent India, as no constitutional body has ever taken on such an adversarial role against the political class in recent times.

The impasse between the country’s major political party, which is also the main Opposition party and the EC does not augur well for a India’s democratic framework, raising questions on the credibility of constitutional institutions like the Election Commission.