India is known as the world’s largest democracy. The Lok Sabha Elections this year are being held from 19th April to 1st June 2024. The polling will be conducted in 7 stages across the country because of the sheer scale and number of people voting. As the Lok Sabha Elections continue in India, there are many instances of voter suppression being reported on social media. Many are alleging inaction by the Election Commission of India(ECI) as the current ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) led by Narendra Modi and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) are misusing their power and influence over state and central agencies to suppress votes especially of those in the minority. There have been reports of police violence, rejection of voters on the basis of “fake” Aadhar cards and more. All this time, the inaction of the ECI and its overall silence on the alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct by the ruling party is being cited as an example of the loss of independence of the ECI. The ECI has refused these claims calling the videos as fake and denying any allegation of such instances occurring.
Let’s take a look at these instances shared on social media:
This video was shared on 13th May on X, formerly known as Twitter. In this video, a man can be seen shouting and alleging that voting has been stopped completely due to people from the minority community voting. He alleges that people of one party came and stopped the vote and that the police seen in the video are also complicit in this. All the while, the police seen in the video are silent.
In this video, shared by ANI on their social media, BJP candidate from Hyderabad Madhavi Latha is seen checking the Voter Ids of muslim women in Azampur polling booth on May 13th. The video has sparked massive controversy with people asking how she can have the authority to do so. A case has been registered against her after AIMIM filed a complaint. She has said that as a candidate she has the right to confirm the identity of the voters without any face masks.
In this video, a woman is alleging that after she pressed the button for cycle (Samajwadi Party) and the slip that got printed was of a flower(BJP). She further alleges that upon raising a concern, the officials in the booth asked her to leave as her vote was now done.
This video is allegedly from Sambhal, UP. It was alleged that the police “lathi charged” on the voters, mostly muslim, to keep them from voting. Sambhal Police, even in the face of the videos, denied that any violence was deployed. The police and District Magistrate of Sambhal said it was only removing people unnecessarily standing inside and that the voting was stopped for a short while before resuming again in an orderly fashion.
In this video, muslim women are alleging that they weren’t allowed to vote by giving the reason that their Aadhar cards are fake. This incident is also being reported from Sambhal, UP. The ECI has once again denied these claims calling the video as fake.
In another instance being reported from UP, this man too has alleged that even after voting for SP, the slip shows the symbol for BJP.
There are many more reports of voter suppression. While these claims are yet to be substantiated, ECI maintains that voting has been peaceful and orderly with no voter being denied their rights. However, there is an increasing distrust in the process with trust in the ECI at an all time low. Whether these reports turn out to be true or not remains to be seen. However this level of distrust in our democratic process is a worrying sign for the future of the world’s largest democracy.
-Namit Pandey