Right Word | Mandate-Rejection Continuum: Cockroach Phase Of India’s Opposition Politics |
Right Word | Mandate-Rejection Continuum: Cockroach Phase Of India’s Opposition Politics
After the 2014 mandate, the refusal took the form of doubt about Electronic Voting Machines. After the 2019 mandate, it became outright denial that the verdict was legitimate.
There is a particular ecosystem in Indian public life that has, since 2014, refused to accept the verdict of any election in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won a substantial mandate. The form of refusal has changed over time. The substance has not. After the 2014 mandate, the refusal took the form of doubt about Electronic Voting Machines. After the 2019 mandate, it became outright denial that the verdict was legitimate. After the 2024 result, with the BJP returning to power but with a reduced majority, the refusal has migrated again, this time into the cockroach memes of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The forms differ. The function is identical. The legitimacy of the ballot must remain in permanent suspension.
The EVM Phase: 2014 to 2019
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After the 2014 general election delivered the first BJP majority in three decades, a section of Indian opposition politics and its allied commentariat began questioning the integrity of Electronic Voting Machines. The doubts were raised in technical language. EVMs could be tampered with. EVMs could be rigged remotely. EVMs were not subject to independent verification. The Election Commission, by 2017, had introduced Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines to address these concerns. The Supreme Court, in multiple judgments, had upheld the integrity of the EVM system. None of this satisfied the ecosystem.
The EVM doubts persisted through the 2017 and 2018........