This is not a free and fair election.

The repercussions and ramifications of this rigging and fixing will be felt throughout Narendra Modi’s third term in office. This election — even before it takes place — has damaged and will further damage our republic.

One need not expend much labour on making the case that the election is rigged.

Two chief ministers are in jail. Why? Not because they are convicted but because they have been jailed by agencies controlled by Modi.

The Congress party has no access to its bank accounts. Why? Not because it has been convicted but because it is being manhandled by agencies controlled by Modi.

Those who have been previously booked by the same agencies have now been given clean chits after they switched their allegiance to the NDA.

In no real democracy does this happen.

We don’t even have to go into the electoral bonds scandal.

The strange thing is that most people had assumed Modi would return to power in 2024; so why do this?

Perhaps it is just who he is. That is the most natural explanation for those who have noted with alarm the sequence of events that led to this pass.

This includes the outside world and especially the institutions that study democracy. They have been telling us for years now that India is not fully free, that its democracy has slid and........

© National Herald