The exit polls for 2019 Lok Sabha elections have predicted a comfortable victory for the BJP led NDA. It has become clear that despite all the negative propaganda against him, PM Modi is going to come back for a consecutive second term. The exit polls clearly show that the Congress and other opposition parties are not going to gain much ground and is going to perform miserably yet again.
Staring at an imminent defeat, the opposition leaders have already started looking for excuses. Congress leader, Rashid Alvi has reportedly claimed that if the exit poll predictions come true, then it would mean that the EVMs have been rigged. He also said that he doesn’t believe in the exit polls because they all have been one-sided. After this outrageous remark, he went on to propound a bizarre conspiracy theory. Rashid Alvi said that if the exit poll predictions come true, then he would like to believe that the recent Congress victory in the three state assemblies was a conspiracy.
He further elucidated that the Congress victory in the three states last year was only an attempt to create the impression that the EVMs are foolproof and that the Election Commission is acting independently without any intervention from the government.
Rashid Alvi is not the only opposition leader to use EVMs as a scapegoat for an imminent defeat even before the announcement of results. Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy also raised concerns about the working of the EVMs after the exit polls were announced. He said, “The exit poll surveys on May 19 only reiterated the serious concern of the Opposition parties on misuse of vulnerable EVMs for electoral gains by the ruling party.” He added, “Entire Opposition political parties had expressed concern over credibility of EVMs under PM Narendra Modi’s rule. Opposition parties even knocked the doors of the Supreme Court asking for a traditional ballet paper elections to avoid defective EVMs that are vulnerable to fraud.”
The Congress and other opposition parties have kept on using the EVMs as a scapegoat for a string of defeats despite the fact that it has been well-established that an EVM cannot be tampered with. The opposition does find a way to hide the massive embarrassment that it faces after the electorate rejects it but it also ends up damaging the democratic ethos of India. By maligning institutions through baseless allegations, the Congress and other opposition parties are doing a disservice to the nation. The opposition must learn how not to get swayed away by an electoral defeat and accept the people’s verdict with humility.
