After a number of exits polls from different survey organizations predicted an embarrassing defeat for the anti-Modi camp, the trend of crying foul over the EVMs has started picking up. Leading the efforts are fake news portals which have emerged evidently to synergize with the Communist-Congress media nexus and help political losers to save their face by spreading misleading information. Even senior leaders of the opposition have joined the trend indicating only the frustration that has built up after a series of electoral debacles.
This time the targets are the EVMs; with Congress and other parties of the anti-Modi camp poised to repeat their ghastly and embarrassing performance from the 2014 general elections, EVMs are surely the soft targets to shift the blame. A similar trend of misleading claims against the EVMs had emerged in several state elections where Congress had faced a crushing defeat following the 2014 general elections.
Joining in is senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi who has been making bizarre comments about the exit polls and even bizarre claims regarding a larger ‘conspiracy’. Rashid Alvi claimed that if the exit poll results turn out to be true, they would prove that there was EVM manipulation during the Lok Sabha polls. Rashid Alvi added that he and his party also believe that the Congress’ election victory in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh was a conspiracy to make people believe in EVMs and the Election Commission. He also accused the exit poll agencies of being biased.
It is important to note that outrage over EVMs by political parties and their complimentary fake news portals only emerge when Congress or any other anti-Modi party is expected to bite the dust in an election. In Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where Congress had formed the government recently towards the end of 2018, no such uproar over EVMs was noticed. This selective uproar over the EVMs on the basis of expected elections results is sufficient to indicate the malice behind these allegations.
These bizarre allegations though devoid of any objectivity are picked up by various fake news networks, ultimately to be used as tools to mislead gullible people. These allegations coming in a coordinated way from the opposition camp only indicate towards it being a well-rounded strategy to discredit the EVMs and the Election Commission in the face of an imminent embarrassing defeat.
Recently Congress Spokesperson, Shama Mohamed had made derogatory comments on Indian electorate “North Indian voters are pliable, they are not as educated as the voters in the South, they listen to the media”. Comments of this nature coupled with bizarre allegations by opposition leaders have evidently taken the political discourse to a new low.
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.
