Hello,

I am Sumedha. I have been investigating the work of ECI and the integrity of India’s electoral processes for a while. You might say that's the bone I won't let go of. 

I am still at it. Now with The Reporters’ Collective. While working at it, transparency activist Venkatesh Nayak shared some responses to RTI he had got from electoral officials. Aside: He is rather dogged too about his pursuits of truth through RTI. 

He got replies from electoral officers in Bihar, telling if the ECI had followed its own regulations while imposing SIR on citizens. The answers he got are quite revelatory. 

I have reported on his RTIs. Please read it here: Did You Follow the Laid Down Rules During SIR? Not in Bihar, Say Election Officials

But, I want you to hold on for a minute longer over here. There is a deeper reason why I feel it's important to track the fine print of India’s electoral processes. They reveal what the big picture arguments can often miss.

In 2023, I was swayed by professor Sabyasachi Das’ research paper, Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy. 

His one particular argument that the BJP is winning a disproportionate number of closely contested seats in comparison to any other political party was damning. 

So, after the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were announced, I wondered, what could be the actual processes of ECI that could potentially allow parties to manipulate votes. 

Not a typical reporter thing to do: I decided to conduct a house-to-house survey of voters whose names were struck off the voter rolls. 

I randomly selected two seats, Chandni Chowk and Farrukhabad, and six booths where the highest number (772) of voters  were deleted. 

I could confirm that 188 of the 772 voters were wrongly deleted. 

The Election Commission had declared them shifted, but I found them to be living at the same address. 

(Now, I hope you see why I have written this blog based on Nayak’s RTI applications). 

I was more surprised by the fact that ECI’s guidelines to cross-verify shifted voters were not being implemented on the ground. They had been short-circuited. 

So, I followed up this matter with sources in ECI’s state offices. One in UP  told me (yes, off-the record), “It is not feasible for us to follow all these SoPs. Because we neither have the resources nor the ECI cross-checks if the state offices are following their guidelines. So, just let it go.”

So, has ECI always run India’s elections unaudited by the people? And have ECI’s functioning become more opaque and discretionary starting with the SIR. Nayak’s RTI application gives us a smell, I believe. Do read the blog.

Here it is again: Did You Follow the Laid Down Rules During SIR? Not in Bihar, Say Election Officials

And, along with other colleagues I continue to investigate India’s electoral rolls. We are not done yet. Fund The Reporters’ Collective to keep us going.

Donate today. 

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Warm regards,
Sumedha Mittal
Reporter
The Reporters' Collective