No level-playing field between BJP and Opposition. Democracies don’t function like this

India's Opposition is being asked to perform the herculean task of not only taking on a resourceful and ruthless BJP but also fending off a battery of institutions that serve only one side.

BJP workers celebrating party's win at Delhi office, Saturday | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Ever since the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Assembly polls of 2025, there has been a surfeit of political commentary.

Some have written obituaries of AAP. Others have attributed various reasons for the defeat: personality cult, gaps in governance, and decline in organisational fervour.

Yet most of the analyses seem skin–deep. They appear to be exercises in elaborate denial of the one glaring fact suffocating India’s public life: the disappearance of the level–playing field. The BJP’s capture of state institutions and its seizure of every constitutional device are like a malign, noxious fog. This fog, like Delhi’s infamous smog, is closing in on citizens, not allowing us to breathe. Because of this state capture by the ruling party, there is no level-playing field between the BJP and the Opposition today.

The Narendra Modi-led BJP operates on the principle of vote-ke-liye-kuch-bhi-karenge. This unscrupulous mindset ignores the democratic principle that the ends must never justify the means. In democracies, the means are just as important as the ends because, once the ends are achieved, the means shape the nature of the victory.

Without the benchmark of moral and ethical means, the ends often degenerate into an anything-goes power lust. The anything-for-power syndrome can easily lead to a descent into dictatorship. As the playwright Anton Chekhov put it, “despicable means used to achieve laudable goals render the goals themselves despicable.”

But the Modi government has no moral or ethical qualms whatsoever about using whatever despicable means it can in its all-out pursuit of power. The BJP’s tenure so far has been an exhausting decade of vicious power grabbing.

Absence of a level-playing field

The fact that 95 per cent of Enforcement Directorate cases filed between 2014 and 2022 were directed against Opposition leaders reveals the extent to which the Modi-led BJP misuses state agencies to try and annihilate the Opposition. A report showed that since 2014, out of 25 Opposition leaders facing probe by central agencies who joined the BJP, 23 were let off scot-free. Level-playing field? No.

A level–playing field is vital for democracies. In fact, it is part of the basic structure of the Constitution. Several constitutional provisions exist to ensure an autonomous Election Commission, along with rules against undemocratic behaviour during elections. But the Modi-led BJP has destroyed this level-playing field between parties, winning elections by weaponising constitutional entities to target the Opposition. In the 2025 Delhi elections, there was a complete absence of a level-playing field.

Here are some examples of this imbalance:

In May 2023, amid a tug–of–war between the AAP government and Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment, upheld the powers of the elected government. The Union cannot deprive a democratically elected government of its power to govern, thundered the Supreme Court. The judgment limited the role of Delhi’s unelected Lieutenant Governor and widened the powers of the elected government.

But, quick as a flash, the Modi government struck back. It promulgated an Ordinance—the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023—setting aside the Supreme Court order and reclaiming most administrative powers for itself.

The AAP was blamed for floods, shortfalls in water supply, and infrastructural collapses. But the truth is, AAP ministers were blocked at every step by a domineering, bullying Lieutenant Governor who seemed willing to let citizens suffer as long as the AAP was not allowed to govern. Dozens of news reports revealed that the LG and the Chief Minister were at loggerheads. A popular government, elected with two massive consecutive majorities, was constantly targeted. Where is the level-playing field when a constitutional functionary like the LG openly sides with one party?

Here’s another example of the missing level-playing field. In a shocking first in independent India, a sitting chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections, on 21 March 2024. The ED case against Kejriwal alleged that, in the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy, AAP leaders had received kickbacks for awarding preferences in liquor contracts to private players. The agency claimed Kejriwal was the “kingpin” of this so-called “liquor scam.”

What followed was a theatre of the absurd. While Kejriwal was in custody, no proof was produced linking him to the “scam.” No hard evidence was presented by the ED beyond accusations and innuendo. On 20 June 2024, a lower court granted Kejriwal bail in the PMLA case. But six days later, the CBI suddenly stormed into action, rushing to arrest him to ensure he remained in jail.

On 12 July, the Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail in the PMLA case. But in a frantic hurry, the CBI sought more time to file a counter affidavit, and the court deferred Kejriwal’s bail.

The former Delhi CM finally secured bail in September 2024 after nearly six months in jail without trial. There is still no substantive proof of a money trail leading to Kejriwal.

Why Kejriwal is a threat

Kejriwal has always been Modi’s bete noire—the IIT-educated, highly successful mobiliser who built a spunky political start-up that, in its short existence, won major victories in Delhi and Punjab. His rise attracted Modi’s special wrath in 2022, when AAP ventured into Modi’s lair—Gujarat. In the 2022 Gujarat Assembly polls, AAP won five seats and got nearly 13 per cent of the vote. From that point onward, the BJP became determined to destroy the Kejriwal-led AAP.

The BJP knows Kejriwal is not an easy enemy. He is not a dynast, so he can’t be attacked with shrill cries of ‘parivarvaad’. He does not play on the Hindu-Muslim turf, which means he can’t be accused of “minority appeasement.” The middle class—Modi’s prized votebank—is also Kejriwal’s constituency.

At 56, Kejriwal, nearly two decades younger than Modi, has shown nimble political instincts and never baulks from pricking Modi’s PR balloon—once calling him a “chauthi pass raja” (a fourth–standard–pass king).

No wonder that in the Delhi elections, the BJP was determined to extinguish AAP altogether.

In addition to Kejriwal, several AAP ministers were arrested and jailed, including former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and former health minister Satyendar Jain. When elected representatives are arrested and jailed, shouldn’t there at least be rock–solid proof of their crimes, a speedy trial, and a conviction?

With AAP leaders under constant threat of arrest and incarceration by the Modi government, what level-playing field could there possibly have been between AAP and the BJP in Delhi? There was none.

Using police, poll panel 

During the Delhi campaign, AAP leaders alleged that none other than the Delhi Police was intimidating and threatening voters. 

Before the Union Budget, the Election Commission stated that the Centre would not be allowed to include poll promises to Delhi voters in the Budget. Yet the Budget still went ahead, harping on the “middle class” and delivering income tax relief for those earning up to Rs 12 lakh a year.

Going a step further, the Modi government took out full–page advertisements with banner headlines: “Modi government’s gift for Delhi.” The Election Commission turned a blind eye to this blatant violation of constitutional norms—using a Budget announcement to influence voters on the eve of the Assembly polls. Is this a level-playing field? No, it is not.

The BJP also mounted a “Sheesh Mahal” attack on Kejriwal during the campaign, alleging that his newly renovated official residence at 6, Flagstaff Road was a palatial luxury mansion. In an appalling and mendacious statement, Narendra Modi, speaking in the hallowed floor of Parliament, even referred to social media chatter, saying: “Some are focused on jacuzzis and fancy showers.”

AAP has categorically denied the presence of jacuzzis in the house. Yet the BJP ran a relentless campaign claiming Kejriwal had installed “golden commodes”, mini-bars, and a swimming pool. Astonishingly, when AAP leaders attempted to debunk these allegations by taking journalists on a verification tour of the house, the Delhi Police set up barricades and blocked their entry. Why did the police—under the control of the Modi government—prevent journalists from verifying the so-called “Sheesh Mahal?” Simply because they didn’t want the truth to be seen. 

Once again, no level-playing field.

It’s not just Delhi. In every Opposition-ruled state, attempts are being made to destroy the level-playing field and stymie elected governments. This is being done through governors appointed by the Modi government. 

In Tamil Nadu, Governor RN Ravi has refused to read the customary address in the Assembly and has been withholding assent to bills. The Tamil Nadu government has challenged his actions in the Supreme Court.

Similarly, in West Bengal, Governor CV Ananda Bose has repeatedly interfered with the functioning of the elected government, attempting to fish in troubled waters. During the 2024 General Elections, he even tried to visit poll-bound areas during the “silent period”—a clear violation of electoral norms.

Can there be a level-playing field between the BJP and Opposition parties when constitutional entities like unelected governors openly act as BJP’s defenders?

The larger question remains

There are allegations of yet another serious violation of the level-playing field. The Opposition alleges voter rolls are being tampered with in both Maharashtra and Delhi.

EC data shows that over 40 lakh new voters were added to Maharashtra’s rolls in just five months—between the Lok Sabha elections in May 2024 and the Assembly elections in November 2024. 

In Delhi, AAP alleged that the BJP had filed notices to delete hundreds of voters on grounds of death or change of residence. But cross–verification by AAP showed that some of those deleted voters were very much alive and still residing at the same addresses. Is the BJP manipulating voter rolls while the EC turns a Nelson’s eye? If true, this is a crime against the people of India.

Another example of a missing level-playing field is the fact that many of the mainstream media today almost entirely functions as a mouthpiece of the Modi government. Celebrity anchors every night yell in praise of the BJP and Modi. We hardly see major media outlets carrying out much–needed investigations into allegations of electoral malpractice or corruption. It took a foreign publication—The Guardian—to report how the Adani Group allegedly profited from relaxed border security at the India-Pakistan border. 

Would any Indian media house report such a story first? Yet another example of the missing level-playing field. 

The Constitution has designed institutions like Parliament, the courts, the EC, federal agencies, the police, and the press to function as checks on an all-powerful executive. These institutions are meant to ensure a level-playing field between the ruling party and the Opposition. But when the EC dilly dallies, courts play the waiting game, the police is accused of partisanship, and the media openly eulogises one party while denigrating the other, the Opposition is forced to scale Mount Everest just for the democratic right to contest elections.

It’s easy to keep bashing the Opposition. Yet the Opposition is being asked to perform the herculean task of not only taking on a resourceful and ruthless ruling party but also fending off a battery of institutions that bat for only one side.

Without a level-playing field, democracies are doomed. Without it, elections become like a rigged 100-metre race—where one runner starts halfway to the finishing line while the other stands at the starting block with legs tied together. 

AAP lost the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections because of the missing level-playing field. But the larger question remains—whether in Delhi or across India—has the level-playing field in elections now completely disappeared?

Sagarika Ghose is a Rajya Sabha MP, All India Trinamool Congress. She tweets @sagarikaghose. Views are personal.

(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)