First Surat, now Indore: EC, wake up!

Indore has gone the way of Surat in turning the election literally into a one-horse race, with only the BJP candidate actually in the fray. It is clear from the circumstances that in both the constituencies, the opposition Congress candidate and possibly other candidates were induced, threatened or otherwise made to withdraw from the field. In Indore, it is clearer and more blatant. Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew after a 17-year-old land dispute case against him was revived, with an attempt to murder charge added to it. It could have been no coincidence that the new charge was added the day after he filed his nomination papers. He has also been photographed with BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh minister Kailash Vijayvargiya and welcomed into the party. Indeed, Vijayvargiya himself reportedly took Bam to the state electoral office to withdraw his nomination. Indore is set to go to the polls on May 13 and the BJP candidate and sitting MP Sankar Lalwani will now have an easy walkover. 

In both Surat and Indore, BJP candidates had won the 2019 elections with a big majority. They would probably have won the contest this time, too. So there was no real need for the BJP to create conditions for a unanimous election this time. Yet, however much the party may deny it, it is clear that it brought about the rejection of the nomination papers of the Congress candidate in Surat and the withdrawal of the candidate in Indore. The party has claimed that it was the court which decided to add a new charge in the case against Bam and that there was no violation of election laws in both cases. It has also said that unanimous elections have taken place in the past. Nobody is fooled by these arguments.

What has happened in both constituencies is undemocratic and goes against the basic idea of elections. If it has happened in two constituencies where the party would have probably won, it can happen in other constituencies where it may fear that it is not on a strong wicket. The Surat and Indore cases were probably trial balloons to see if the party would face opposition over such blatant tactics. That makes the holding of elections a farcical exercise. It would deny the right to vote for the voters of the constituencies where the Opposition is eliminated in various ways. The idea that NOTA would remain when other candidates are not there cannot also be dismissed. The Election Commission should have taken note of what happened in Surat and Indore and acted on the developments. Its remit is to conduct free and fair elections, and it cannot say it has done so when candidates are being forced out of contests. It must be hoped that the Election Commission will wake up to its enormous responsibility before it is too late to save the credibility of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.