The opposition narrative: How far can you go with a weak foundation and loose bricks?
Election result day comes with a lot of questions and celebrations around the world. Modi and his BJP have witnessed another landslide victory. It’s a homecoming for them. While many people did speculate and expect an NDA victory, very few expected the victory margin to be this high.
The drama around this entire election season has been unprecedented. Right from the beginning of the campaigning until the end when the results were declared, all political parties have insulted each other like never before.
But the loudest voice in all of this was the voice of the opposition protesting against the Election Commission and the Electronic Voter Machine (EVM). A lot of the decisions of the Election Commission have been questioned this election season. Starting from campaigning techniques to the conduct of the elections, a lot of questionable moves have been made.
It is no easy job to conduct elections in a country like ours. Fact remains that India is the largest democracy in the world and to ensure free and fair elections with a population this wide and diverse is a job for the tough nuts. While it is true that some decisions of the Election Commission could be questioned as arbitrary and ineffective, it would be wrong to say that the fault for things going wrong in the conduct of elections lies purely with them.
We say this because it is important to remember and to realize that this election season has been one of the dirtiest. The controversies and debate have been countless, as have been the accusations.
Accusations of corruption, dynasty-establishment, abuse of power, regionalization and caste-based division of the masses seem to be just the tip of this electoral iceberg. The political alliances and parties have taken to each other’s throats. What has often been termed as a battle of wits, politics seems to have become a battle of slander. Sometimes I think that these aren’t elections to be the government, it’s a popularity contest.
With the Opposition’s latest attack on the EVMs and the declaration the entire election being rigged, the political arena seems to have hit a new low.
Yes, it is true that mistakes have been made in the election in terms of the security provided to all the EVM’s. However some of the comments made by the opposition, including the Congress’ remarks on EC being an acronym for “Eradicated Credibility”, are just downright disrespectful.
If the trends in the opposition’s remarks are to be analyzed, one can see that they seem to be based purely on malice and bitterness, rather than truth or fact. Numerous tests and trial runs have been conducted to prove the credibility of the EVMs. In fact, several tests have been conducted where the representatives of the opposition did not even turn up despite being told to. In such a situation, what allows them to pass comments on the credibility of this machine?
The truth of the matter is that EVM’s have been in use ever since the last general elections. Numerous State Assembly elections have been conducted with their use. However, there few protests at that time. Now that the opposition has faced a humiliating loss, they are making noise just to console themselves.
The results are out now and BJP has come with a much bigger margin of victory than what anyone expected. While Congress seems to have accepted the verdict of the masses, a lot of political parties are still in denial. Questions continue to be raised against the EVMs.
