Bihar Election – How elections are rigged in India through democratic fraud!

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By Syed Ali Mujtaba, Edited by Adam Rizvi, The India Observer, TIO: In the Bihar election 2025, the expectation of those supporting the Grand Alliance was that the Chief Minister Bihar Election would bow out of power after ruling the state for 20  consecutive years. Second, the expectation was that the BJP would start doing reverse counting in Indian politics after the Bihar election.  Third, the Lok Jashakti Party, headed by Chirag Paswan, will go into oblivion after the election. Contrary to all such expectations, the Bihar results surprised all those who wished for a change of guard in Bihar. Some are raising the question, how the wishes of the people can be turned around in the democratic electoral process in India.

The Bihar election was contested for change vs those wanting to maintain the status quo. The Bihar election was all about people’s power versus those who are sitting in power by crooked means. This election was all about how democracy can be twisted in favor of the ruling elite.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: The Battle For Bihar: Questions, Concerns & The Future Of India’s Democracy

The election was who those who wanted use the democratic route to change the guard were made to lick dust in the power politics game play.

How Indian electoral democracy works in India

First, the BJP government at the center appointed the election commissioner of its choice and asked him to conduct the election in a manner that favors them. Even though the Election Commissioner holds an independent constitutional post, he has been made to run errands to fulfill the wishes of the ruling government.  The institution of the election commission is reduced to a farce where the election commissioner is asked to change the course of the election through fraudulent means to keep the ruling government in power.

Special Intensive Revision (SIR)

In such a scheme of things, the Election Commission ordered a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls just before the election in Bihar. This was done to expunge a large number of voters from the voting list. Many voters who live outside the state for work could not turn up for the SIR exercise, were omitted from the voting list. The media reported that RJD supporters, particularly Muslims, were targeted and their names were expunged from the voters’ list. Names of some 80,000 voters were removed from the voting list in Bihar.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Mapping Muslim Assembly Constituencies in Bihar

In contrast, some three lakh voters were added in the final list of SIR. This addition and subtraction of names in the voters’ list is believed to have changed the election result in Bihar.

Elections are won by managing the polling booth

The election results were turned around through effective management of the polling booth. First, the voters not favoring the ruling party were not allowed to go to the polling booth. Instead, their votes were cast in favor of the candidate belonging to the ruling government.

Tampering with the Electronic Voting Machine

There were allegations made by the opposition that Electronic Voting Machines were tampered with by the ruling party in Bihar. The voters, no matter which symbol they voted, their choice went in favor of the candidate belonging to the ruling party.

Malpractices at the Strong Room where EVMs are kept

Soon after the voting is completed, the Electronic Voting Machine is sent to be kept inside the strong room. Here, security forces keep a guard on them under their watchful eyes. Reports of malpractices of replacing the mandated voting machine with fraudulent EVMs are reported from Bihar.  This act of stealing the popular mandate in collusion of the security guard is reported by the media in Bihar.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: How the Muslims Demographic strength can be used to get 50+ MLAs in Bihar

Counting of the Votes

Lastly but not least, on the day of the counting of votes, those engaged in the counting process indulge in malpractices and change the result by declaring the loser a winner and vice versa.

Some startling facts about the Bihar election

 The actual voters’ list comprised 7.42 crore voters, but the actual votes polled were 7.45 crore. The Election Commission website admits such a discrepancy.

Second, Nitish Kumar distributed freebies to the voters during the time of the election campaign. Some “Rs 14,000 crore loan given by the World Bank was used to win the Bihar election as alleged by Prashant Bhusan, the pollster and leader of the Jan Swaraj party. The voters were bribed just before the election. Free power for up to 125 units, the tripling of social security pensions, and the transfer of Rs 10,000 to 75 lakh women were done to swing the Bihar election results. In addition, the ruling party increased its grip over the bureaucracy, which allegedly helped in controlling the voters who were to vote against the ruling party, which changed the course of the election results in Bihar.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Whom Should Muslims Vote for in the Bihar Elections(2025)?

Then, special trains were run to ferry voters from other states to Bihar for voting in the Bihar election. They were given a free train ride so that they could cast their vote in favor of the candidate belonging to the ruling government.

Modi government’s four-legged strategy 

The first strategy of the Modi government is to rule through communal polarization of the society. A conscious project is launched where Hindus are made to separate from the Muslim citizens. This is done to create a voting template of 80 % Hindus uniting against the 20% of the minorities.

The second strategy is to emasculate the powers of the government institutions like the Election Commission, the Enforcement Directorate, the CBI, the Supreme Court, etc. They have been reduced to serve the interests of the ruling government.

The third strategy is to buy over the media and stop them from criticizing the government. The ruling government is using strong-arm tactics to make the media fall in line and use them for its propaganda purposes. A carrot and stick police is used to manage the media under the Modi rule.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: “Vote Theft” allegation needs an Independent Investigation

The fourth strategy is to sell the Hindu dream by debunking secularism as a matter of state policy. Hindu nationalism is equated with Indian nationalism, where other communities are made to live at the mercy of the majority community.

 Conclusion   

 “V-Democracy Report 2025,” watching the health of democratic countries has classified India as an electoral autocracy. It says the common populace of India is living at the mercy of the ruling elite.  The report raises concerns about the clean electoral process in India. It doubts electoral Integrity and goes on to say, “While elections are held in India regularly, they fail to meet democratic standards of fairness and freedom. The report further adds, there is growing political polarization, combined with the use of disinformation by the media, that contributes to the decline of the democratic system of governance in India. The report ranks India at 100th position out of 179 countries in the world. 

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Curated by Humra Kidwai

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