• Atul Londhe

A Decade of Broken Promises

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 after overthrowing the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), riding on the tides of the anti-corruption movement fomented by Anna Hazare. The BJP made tall claims and promises of bringing transformative and paradigm-shifting changes into the lives of ordinary Indian citizens. Their list of extravagant proclamations ranged from the “promise” to bring back black money from Swiss banks and distribute `15 lakh to every person in the country, to eliminating corruption overnight, overhauling administrative structures, and making everyday life “wonderful,” effectively establishing “Ram Rajya.” In effect, they promised to create a utopia.

However, while on paper these claims sounded lucrative, the BJP failed abysmally on all fronts when it came to executing them through effective policies and programmes. They had promised to generate two crore jobs every year, but today unemployment has started breaking all past records. They promised to double farmers’ income by 2022, but Indian farmers are still being forced to commit suicide, with the average rate under the Modi government placed at 30 farmers per day.

Ludicrous schemes like demonetisation were projected as a “master-stroke” to permanently solve corruption, pull out black money, put a check on money laundering, strengthen internal security, digitise the economy, and reap far-fetched benefits. Instead, it became a historic and embarrassing failure that made the lives of ordinary citizens tougher by forcing them in queues for days. Then came the poorly planned and executed lockdown during COVID-19, which brought economic activity to a standstill and resulted in unaccounted and unnecessary deaths of thousands, while the government looked away and displayed apathy.

The pattern has been clear: since the BJP has failed to bring real changes to people’s lives, it keeps shifting goalposts to deflect accountability and yet retain power. The Modi government has made claims it is neither competent nor willing to fulfil, lacking both execution and political will. As a result, the BJP has lost the trust and faith of common citizens. But power is addictive—and the BJP has become fixated on it. The party needed a new mechanism to keep enjoying the power it has amassed for over a decade. Hence came their new “masterstroke,” an illegal and lethal weapon to compromise the most fundamental democratic right of every Indian, the right to vote. The 2024 General Election and the Emergence of a Pattern

During the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, the BJP pitched the slogan “ab ki baar, 400 paar,” claiming they would win over 400 seats with the help of allies. But even they knew they were building sandcastles in the air. The only way they could attempt such an outcome was by robbing people of their right to vote. The 2024 General elections were where this transgression began to unfurl. The BJP, in cahoots with the Election Commission of India (ECI), devised a mechanism to keep winning elections regardless of the real mandate.

During the Lok Sabha elections, voter turnout data was delayed, signalling the first sign of systematic vote theft. The Association for Democratic Reforms objected to counting on 76 seats. In Varanasi, Congress candidate Ajay Rai was leading for the first six rounds, after which the ECI stopped counting for 55 minutes. When counting restarted, Narendra Modi suddenly began gaining an unexplained lead. These and several similar incidents point towards a systematic stratagem.

The pattern continued in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. In Maharashtra, where the BJP had suffered major Lok Sabha losses, an unprecedented deviation occurred in the Assembly results. Historically, when Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections occur close together, Maharashtra has not shown dramatic mandate shifts. But this time, voters “deviated” in one direction—toward the BJP.

In the Kamptee Assembly constituency of Ramtek Lok Sabha seat, 25,000 voters were added, and the BJP candidate won by exactly that margin. Many BJP leaders across Maharashtra won by strikingly similar margins, pointing to institutionalised manipulation. These were not coincidences, but a tested pattern of systematic vote-theft. The same pattern was on display in Haryana. Around twenty-five lakh new names appeared on the rolls just before the elections. This, along with the media-driven narrative building and populist schemes, was all deployed to pull the election away from the INDIA alliance. Rahul Gandhi has very poignantly highlighted these distortions repeatedly, including that of Haryana, pointing out a national pattern of institutionalised vote theft.

Bihar SIR and a New Level of Interference

The Bihar assembly elections not only confirmed this national pattern but revealed a new tool deployed to ensure the NDA’s victory and Nitish Kumar’s continuation in power: the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The ECI announced a summary revision in February 2025 and introduced the SIR three months later under the pretext of identifying infiltrators. However, contrary to the buzz and false narratives, around 700 people accepted they were not citizens, and absolutely no infiltrator was ultimately found. Ironically, on polling day, the people who were unable to vote were overwhelmingly Hindus. Does this mean the BJP believes Hindus are infiltrators? As an exercise for updating electoral rolls, the SIR violated the Representation of the People Act, 1950. Despite the Supreme Court’s mandate allowing Aadhaar as valid ID, the ECI demanded passports, service books, and land records—documents not readily available to ordinary people. This apathy clearly shows the motivation of the ECI to support the BJP, a party that no longer has the people’s mandate.

The NDA relied heavily on a campaign laden with negative sentiments and propaganda, excuses about land availability, the infiltrator narrative, and aggressive Hindu-Muslim polarisation. Their campaign used words like katta, bandook, and goli.

Moreover, the BJP claimed there was no land available in Bihar to set up industries, yet thousands of acres were leased to Adani at 1 per acre. Former BJP cabinet minister R.K. Singh exposed corruption worth62,000 crore in the central power project at Bhagalpur; the same project was later handed to Adani at over `1-per-acre rate. All these facts point towards a large, premeditated act of systemic collusion. The BJP has claimed that women have overwhelmingly voted for it. But if women are deeply concerned about migration, why would they reject a coalition that promised to stop it? How can families accept the idea that their men must continue migrating for menial jobs? And how do MLAs with negative public perception, even those beaten up and chased away from their constituencies, suddenly win by huge margins?

In the SIR, the EC removed around 65 lakh names from electoral rolls, out of which 22 lakh were declared dead. But the reality told a different story when Rahul Gandhi and Yogendra Yadav met and even had tea with some of these allegedly “dead” voters.

Voters were not informed enough about the process to object. Block Level Officers were seen filling enumeration forms on their own, sitting in offices or homes. More questions arose when the BJP began answering queries directed at the ECI. Why is the BJP acting as the official spokesperson of the Election Commission? Or have the two become indistinguishable? Legal Shields, Institutional Capture, and the Erosion of Democracy

This erosion of democracy has been facilitated by legal changes. Clause 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, granted immunity to the CEC and ECs from legal action for decisions taken while in office. The Act also changed the composition of the Selection Committee, removing the Chief Justice of India, which left the committee clearly skewed in favour of the ruling party. Rahul Gandhi Ji strongly objected to the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar, the first CEC chosen under the new rules.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the ECI to provide documents related to the Haryana elections to advocate Mehmood Pracha. Instead of doing so, the EC opposed the petition and changed election rules. CCTV footage earlier preserved for one year is now destroyed after 45 days, closing the door to accountability and facilitating vote theft.

The spine of any election is fairness and transparency. The right to vote is an earned right, not a privilege, and it is being taken away by the unholy collusion of the Election Commission and the BJP. A climate of fear prevails, where asking questions is treated as a sin. Activists like Sonam Wangchuk, featured in TIME’s list of 100 impactful environmentalists, are detained under the National Security Act. Gen Z, protesting climate injustice, paper leaks, and unemployment, is being penalised. Yet the ECI claims that over 50 percent of youth voted for the BJP, which seems far from reality. We are watching an attack on democracy from multiple fronts. In a climate where many have grown apathetic or numb to democratic decay, the only figure capable of shaking the nation awake and compelling people to ask hard questions is Rahul Gandhi Ji. To protect democracy, we urge the citizens of this country to stand firm and choose the right side of history.

Author is Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee’s Chief Spokesperson