Amit Malviya must be a harried man as Rahul Gandhi set out on his ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar on Sunday. Bharatiya Janata Party’s social media department, headed by Malviya, is facing flak in the Right-wing ecosystem. The reason: its purported failure to counter the Opposition’s narrative about the Election Commission’s special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.
Let’s look at one such thread. Tushar Gupta, whose bio proclaims him to be “anti-Left”, took to X to express his concern about the “fake news” being spread about the electoral process.
“Absolutely zero resistance. ECI’s press releases are not going to cut it…,” he wrote.
His argument was that the 18-24 age group in 2029 would be “reelers”, not readers, and could be easily swung by Gandhi. “And this is exactly what he (Gandhi) is doing right now,” he added.
X users reacted to the thread, venting their ire on Malviya, with some even demanding his resignation as the BJP’s IT cell chief.
Dr Ratan Sharda, who has written several books on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), agreed with Tushar and said that Gen Z is “not clued on” to the BJP.
“The communication, the enunciation, the slogans – all present a middle-aged projection of a young successful party led by the most popular PM of all times whom youth love. @BJP4India needs to reinvent its SM approach and communication,” he wrote.
To be fair to Malviya, headline management and narrative-building aren’t so easy after 11 years in power. The belligerence of the Election Commission (EC) in dealing with the Opposition isn’t helping him either.
“Give an oath or apologise to the nation. There is no third option,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said at a press conference Sunday, taking on Gandhi’s ‘vote theft’ charge. Many Constitutional experts like former Lok Sabha Secretary General PDT Achary have rubbished the EC’s demand for Gandhi’s oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules 1960, maintaining that it does not apply in this case. Kumar wouldn’t bother.
Gandhi not the first accuser
Since when has the CEC assumed the authority to instruct public representatives to apologise? Even former CEC MS Gill, who joined the Congress and went on to become a Union Minister after retirement, never demanded it from Opposition leaders as long as he helmed the EC.
One may not agree with Gandhi’s phraseology—from ‘chowkidar chor hai (the gatekeeper is the thief)’ to ‘vote chori (vote theft)’. He often gets carried away, trying to bring ‘earthquakes’ in Indian politics. But that can’t be the reason for a constitutional body to publicly berate the Leader of the Opposition. Also, it’s not the first time that the EC has been accused of favouring the ruling party. After all, the fact is that the CEC was and still is essentially Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handpicked man—the ruling party’s choice in that chair.
After losing the South Delhi Lok Sabha seat to the Congress in the 1971 elections, Jan Sangh leader Balraj Madhok had gone to court complaining of rigging allegedly facilitated by the ruling Congress and the EC. He had alleged that the ballot papers were chemically treated and mechanically stamped to favour the Congress candidate, Shashi Bhushan. The Supreme Court dismissed his appeal. In 2002, then Gujarat Chief Minister Modi drew censure from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for attacking CEC JM Lyngdoh.
There are myriad instances of politicians attacking the EC, but no CEC made it a personal issue until now. The body is entrusted to conduct free and fair polls, with no malice toward any party or politician. If there is bad blood and a public spat between the CEC and the Opposition leaders, it will shake the people’s trust and faith in the election results. And that is the worst thing that could happen to Indian democracy.
Instead of attacking Rahul Gandhi, the EC could have simply ordered an investigation into his claims of fake voters in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura—or, for that matter, the supposedly inflated number of voters in Maharashtra. It could have done a Bihar-like special intensive revision (SIR) in Mahadevapura immediately to rebut the allegations. That would have bolstered its credibility and its Bihar SIR case.
BJP leader Anurag Thakur also made allegations about fake voters in the constituencies of Opposition leaders such as Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, and others. Thakur also accused them of ‘vote theft’. Gandhi and Thakur were making the same disclosure—that voter lists across the country have issues. CEC Kumar hasn’t reacted to Thakur’s allegations yet.
Fake voters’ list is no news, anyway. The CEC could have thanked the Congress and BJP leaders for highlighting this issue again and used it to justify a countrywide SIR. What to speak of allegations of irregularities in Assembly or Lok Sabha elections, in the recent Delhi Constitution Club election (in which incumbent and former MPs are voters), Congress leader and former MP Brijendra Singh found to his dismay that his vote had already been cast. So did another former MP from the BSP.
It’s plausible that Kumar—who was Secretary in Amit Shah’s cooperation ministry—is extremely upset by Gandhi’s diatribe against the Commission. The best way to deal with this would have been to invite Gandhi over for Kashmiri Kahwa, as he used to treat journalists with, and thrash it out. But Kumar has chosen to slug it out publicly with the Opposition.
Falling trust in EC
What must worry the BJP is the fact that the Opposition’s diatribe against the EC seems to be resonating on the ground. As per a Lokniti-CSDS survey published in The Hindu on Sunday, 45 per cent of the respondents believe that genuine voters may get removed from the voters’ list under the SIR, as against only 25 per cent who said ‘no’. Only 60 per cent of respondents were very or somewhat confident of the EC’s ability to ensure inclusivity. The survey was conducted in six states: Delhi, Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
The Lokniti-CSDS survey, as compared to its 2019 and 2024 post-poll surveys, shows declining trust in the Commission. In Assam, the number of respondents who said they have “no trust” in the EC increased from 6 per cent in 2019 to 10 per cent in 2024 and 17 per cent in 2025. In Kerala, this increased from 10 per cent in 2019 and 2024 to 24 per cent in 2025.
In Madhya Pradesh, the lack of trust in the EC rose from 6 per cent in 2019 to 22 per cent in 2024 and 2025. In Uttar Pradesh, it increased from 11 per cent in 2019 to 16 per cent in 2024, and 31 per cent in 2025. In Delhi, it went from 11 per cent in 2019 to 21 per cent in 2024 and 30 per cent in 2025.
In West Bengal, however, the number of respondents with ‘no trust’ in the EC decreased—from 11 per cent in 2019 to 9 per cent in 2024, and 8 per cent in 2025.
The declining trust in the poll body, as indicated by the report, should be alarming for every stakeholder in India’s democracy, including the BJP.
There have been a lot of controversies surrounding the EC. For instance, nothing would happen to Anurag Thakur for his ‘goli maro saalon ko’ call during the Delhi elections. The Centre facilitated then election commissioner Ashok Lavasa’s posting in the Manila-based Asian Development Bank after he objected to the EC’s clean chit to Modi and Shah for alleged poll code violations in 2019. That was after the income tax department issued a notice to his wife and the enforcement directorate started looking into his son’s investments.
In 2023, PM Modi announced a five-year extension of the free foodgrain scheme for 80 crore people from an election rally in the middle of the Chhattisgarh Assembly election campaign. The EC looked the other way. Allegations against the EC being soft and partisan toward the ruling party certainly didn’t start during the Modi government. There were similar allegations during the previous Congress-led governments. What also made the Opposition in every era suspect of the EC’s actions and motives was the fact that the government of the day picked the CEC and the election commissioners.
In 2023, the Supreme Court tried to ensure the independence of the EC by including the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in the panel to select the CEC and the election commissioners. The Modi-led government overrode the ruling by enacting legislation that kept the CJI out and left it to the PM, a Cabinet minister, and the Leader of the Opposition. It virtually re-empowered the PM to handpick his nominees as the CEC and the election commissioners.
The Lokniti-CSDS survey didn’t elaborate as to why people are losing trust in the EC. The instances cited above could be just the tip of the iceberg. The problem certainly didn’t start with Gyanesh Kumar. Nor did it start with the Modi-led government, even though there were many egregious examples to question the EC’s non-partisanship.
The EC has always had the veneer of autonomy, thanks to the fact that some CECs, like TN Seshan, really tried to make a difference after the executive appointed them. It may not always be the case. But when we talk about 20 to 30 per cent of the people in five states having no trust in the EC today, let’s not forget the fact that a large majority still repose their faith in this institution, no matter the controversies. Both Gyanesh Kumar and Rahul Gandhi must remember this as they follow their respective pursuits. So must the BJP and everyone else. PM Modi and the BJP should also remember that the people who start losing trust in the EC may hold the ruling party accountable for this.
DK Singh is Political Editor at ThePrint. He tweets @dksingh73. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)