India’s “Democracy” in Crisis: Election Commission Faces Mounting Allegations

NEW DELHI — India’s Election Commission (ECI), long paraded as the guardian of the “world’s largest democracy,” now finds itself in the dock — accused by the opposition of bias, fraud, and systematically undermining electoral integrity. As of August 27, 2025, the controversy has exploded into street protests, court battles, and whispers of impeachment against the country’s top poll official.

A Democracy Under Question

The INDIA bloc has leveled damning charges that expose the fragility of India’s democratic claims:

• Fake Votes & Fraud: Rahul Gandhi has accused the ECI of enabling “institutional voter theft,” citing over 100,000 fake votes in Karnataka alone — from duplicate entries to entire clusters of “improbable” voters.
• Bihar Roll Purge: In the poll-bound state of Bihar, the ECI’s “Special Intensive Revision” has become a lightning rod. Opposition leaders allege it is a deliberate conspiracy to disenfranchise millions, especially the poor and marginalized. The commission has already deleted millions of names but refuses to reveal details.
• Opacity, Not Transparency: Instead of open, digital records, the ECI has released bulky image files that make auditing nearly impossible — a move critics say is aimed at blocking scrutiny.
• Captured Institution: A new law giving the ruling party control over commissioner appointments has turned the ECI from an independent referee into what the opposition calls a “government tool.”

Explosive New Developments

• In Bihar, opposition leaders claim 5,000 outsiders from Uttar Pradesh were added to the rolls. The ECI dismissed this as “imaginary.”
• The Supreme Court has had to repeatedly intervene — ordering the ECI to publish voter deletion lists and accept Aadhaar cards, steps seen as small victories against what the opposition brands as a “brutal assault on democracy.”
• The ECI, now in full damage-control mode, has launched a public “cleanup campaign,” asking people to validate roll deletions — but critics argue this is too little, too late.
• Behind the scenes, talk of an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar reflects the scale of mistrust and political deadlock.

The Bigger Picture

For years, India has projected itself as the world’s largest democracy, holding up its elections as a symbol of credibility. But today, even its own opposition is calling that image a myth, pointing to manipulated rolls, compromised institutions, and a referee that no longer appears neutral.

As the crisis deepens, New Delhi’s democratic veneer looks increasingly fragile and hypocritical — with growing evidence that India’s elections are not the global model they were once claimed to be.

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