India is heading towards an electoral crisis. And if this crisis is not dealt with in time then India’s election process will lose its legitimacy and consequently, India’s democracy will be in peril. This question has become serious after the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. These are the two states where the INDIA alliance was expected to win easily, but the results have stunned members of the Opposition and civil society. Even political pundits and pollsters are astounded and shocked. Now, the Congress party officially has decided to raise the issue of alleged manipulations in electoral process.

The party and its alliance partners in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) were dismayed with the margin of victory for Mahayuti and the success rate of the BJP in particular. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, in fact, within two hours of counting had questioned the veracity of the results and hinted that there was something wrong with the EVMs. Congress leaders also joined the chorus and alleged that the EVMs have been manipulated or hacked, though no evidence was offered. Social media has witnessed a few visuals in which members of a village in Maharashtra were protesting that though the village was a supporter of the Congress, the results did not reflect that. Now Sharad Pawar has also said that democracy is being undermined by the electoral process.

Similar sentiments were expressed after the Haryana assembly elections. This was the election in which everyone — including BJP leaders of the state — had predicted a huge victory for the Congress, but results were totally contradictory. The BJP leaders who were demoralised in the morning of the counting day could not believe their eyes when by 10am trends projected a big win for the party. Privately, many leaders and political analysts confessed to the author that there was something wrong, but no one had proof. The Congress held a press conference and declared that the Haryana results were not acceptable to the party. When I asked a few Congress leaders if the party would do something then I was told that it was serious about the issue and was weighing the pros and cons. Meanwhile the Congress........

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