Editorial – OnlineAge

Evasive EC erodes trust in poll processes

Allegations made by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi about electoral malpractices in Haryana raise questions about the integrity of the polls and the credibility of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Gandhi’s charges, made during his media interaction on Wednesday, are not a blanket statement on elections in the country, but with no credible explanations coming from the EC, apprehensions about its functioning will remain. If the LoP’s previous allegations were about individual constituencies, such as Mahadevapura and Aland in Karnataka, he has now claimed that the entire Assembly election in Haryana, held in November 2024, was ‘stolen’ by the BJP, with support from the EC. ‘Operation Sarkar Chori’, he said, was orchestrated to deny the Congress a landslide victory as predicted by multiple exit polls and opinion polls. Gandhi shared the list of voters in Haryana’s Rai Assembly constituency, in which the photograph of a Brazilian female model was seen as used 22 times across 10 booths, as voters with different names. He claimed that one in eight voters in Haryana was fake (over 25 lakh voters) and 1,24,177 voters in the state had fake photographs on the rolls. Despite this, the Congress lost eight seats by a cumulative margin of 22,779 votes. Gandhi’s statements are based on the EC’s records, and the malpractices he has pointed out are similar to the ones he has highlighted in the past. There is a pattern of manipulation in voters’ lists, and with similar discrepancies coming to the fore in other parts of the country, it is upon the EC to address, with credible evidence, the allegations of a centralised plan to tamper with the elections, to the advantage of the BJP. Neither the EC nor the BJP has given convincing responses to Gandhi’s charges. The Commission has outrightly denied any malpractice and has asked why the voters’ lists were not vetted by the Congress booth agents. Gandhi has pointed out that the lists were made available too late for an examination. In any case, the EC should not be deflecting the questions by posing its own questions when the responsibility of fair conduct of the polls rests with the Commission. The BJP, on expected lines, has sought to ridicule and vilify Gandhi. Still, there are no answers. Asking the LoP to approach the court does not make sense. The situation warrants urgent correction, not long-drawn legal redress. Citizens have a right to free and fair elections, and faltering institutions weaken the country’s democratic foundations. (Source: DH)

Editorial

A deadly cycle of errors and neglect

OnlineAge / November 6, 2025

Stampedes happen in India with alarming frequency, and they continue to be seen as accidents, like the ones that happen on our roads. But stampedes are not accidental and are caused by predictable, controllable factors, like many road accidents are. The stampede at a temple in Srikakulam, in Andhra Pradesh, which led to the death of at least nine people, mostly women and children, was also preventable. This year, India has lost scores of lives in stampedes – from the Kumbh tragedy through incidents at the New Delhi railway station, the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, and a political rally in Karur. There have been other incidents that claimed fewer lives or were not reported. Stampedes are invariably traced to overcrowding, poor preparedness, inadequate infrastructure, and lapses in safety and security arrangements, though the triggers could be different in each case. The Srikakulam incident is reported to have happened when a railing erected for crowd control collapsed. It caused people to fall off stairs, leading to chaos and trampling. The newly built, privately-owned temple received on Saturday five times the number of devotees it receives on a normal day – the railings and barricades in place were not enough to control the movement of people. The administration and the police have said they were not informed of the event, but it is their responsibility to take note of unusual crowding and ensure that order is maintained. The statement of the owner of the temple that it was “an act of God” shows how such incidents are viewed by many. Guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority and in the National Building Code comprise norms and courses of action to prevent stampedes and to handle them if they occur. Law enforcement personnel undergo training to tackle such situations. Still, these incidents keep occurring. Most of the stampedes happen in religious congregations, political rallies, and entertainment venues. The organisers often fail to assess the crowd volume, and even when they do, facilities to ensure orderly movement fall short. Crowd control is often left to untrained volunteers, and the authorities are found wanting in discharging their responsibilities. After every major stampede, inquiries are instituted, but punishment for lapses is rare. The fallout does not inform preparedness, lessons are not learnt, and the cycle of mishaps continues. Investigations are also found to be politicised, as in the case of the Karur stampede, failing to fix accountability and delaying the truth. Deterrence is key – the approach has to shift from an acceptance of inevitability to strong preventive measures backed up by quick follow-through action against the offenders. (Source: DH)