The Hindutva agenda: The Electoral rolls gambit
Instead of hollowing out Universal Adult Franchise which enriches democracy, can be undermined by mass disfranchisement of those entitled to vote.
Universal Adult Franchise in the aftermath of an impartially conducted census in tandem with a caste census will sound the death knell of continued upper caste supremacy, and the politics of religious majoritarianism in India. It is little wonder that the census has not taken place since 2011.
Data on caste was not available since the 1931 census. The UPA government initiated the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) in 2011. Specific data on caste was not released. Observe the difficulties of the Congress governments in Karnataka and Telangana and the NDA government in Bihar.
General elections taking place without the freezing of a fresh delimitation of constituencies until the concerns of the Southern states are addressed would be stimulus for those giving vent to feelings not confined to greater autonomy.
A frontal attack on adult franchise would be folly even for the supercilious amongst the twice born and the well-heeled. In the wake of the Mandal Commission report, it is difficult to stop the inching towards a more socially equitable society for long.
Even the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in September 2024 indicated its “support for a Caste Census, while adding that it should not be used for political or electoral purposes.”
The Genesis
Adult franchise was always seen as a threat to the upper castes and the propertied classes. Dr B R Ambedkar had argued that it be part of the fundamental rights chapter but Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was not amenable to this as Chairperson of the Advisory Committee.
Many important Congress men like Mosalikanti Thirumala Rao opposed universal adult franchise. Brajeshwar Prasad argued, universal adult franchise as a ‘violation of the tenets of democracy’. Even social democrat, K.T. Shah and liberal Hridhay Nath Kunzru were not enthused by the prospect of universal adult suffrage, albeit on the grounds of literacy. Krishna Chandra Sharma and a few other Congress men supported it.
When the Constituent Assembly adopted the principle of universal adult franchise, Alladi Krishnaswami Iyer, a member, remarked that this was done, “with an abundant faith in the common man and the ultimate success of democratic rule, and in the full belief that the introduction of democratic government on the basis of adult suffrage will bring enlightenment and promote the well-being, the standard of life, the comfort, and the decent living of the common man”
The lone Communist member of the Constituent Assembly, Somnath Lahiri wanted proportional representation in addition to universal adult franchise. As for Hindutva supporters, the constitution itself was not acceptable.
The Mandal commission report resurrected the need for caste-based apportioning of the development cake. Since then, it has been a protracted rearguard battle by much of the state machinery on behalf of the socially and economically haves who want to be perpetual haves.
Judicial Insouciance
India is in real danger of slipping into Hindutva majoritarianism. It will be no small measure due to judicial attitudes on many key issues related to the continuance of representative democracy in India. The most recent of which is the inordinate delay in deciding the challenges to Constitution Bench judgment in Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023).
In Anoop Baranwal, the Constitution Bench analysed Article 324 of the Constitution dealing with the appointment of Election Commissioners. It spoke of the need to take the appointment “out of the exclusive hands of the executive.
It said that “a pliable ECI, an unfair and biased overseer of the foundational exercise of adult franchise, which lies at the heart of democracy, who obliges the powers that be, perhaps offers the surest gateway to acquisition and retention of power”.
The Court was assertive when it said that “the outpouring of demands for an impartial mode of appointment of the members require, at the least, the banishing of the impression that the ECI is appointed by less than fair means.”
As Senior Advocate, Kaleeswaram Raj, further succinctly puts it:
“The Modi regime promulgated the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act in 2023 with a view to nullify the Constitution Bench judgment in Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023). The Act excluded the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and included a Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister in his place, as part of the Selection Committee for choosing the Election Commission of India (ECI). This statute was legally challenged in several writ petitions which are yet to be finally heard. Significantly, the petitioners also sought a stay of the enactment. A Bench, led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna (as he then was), heard the application for a stay and rejected it on March 22, 2024, by a detailed order in Dr. Jaya Thakur and others v. Union of India (2024). Had the statute been stayed, the country could have had a different umpire for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent Assembly elections. In all probability, a more independent ECI could have had the potential to conduct the elections more fairly and impartially. That this did not happen shows the Supreme Court’s failure to act at a time when it was supposed.”
The Hindutva judgement of 1995 of the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for ultra-nationalism. This was followed by the Manohar Joshi petition. The gates of secularism had been breached.
The Election Commission of India
One of the great popular myths in India popularized by the corporate owned media was that the arrival of T.N. Seshan gave the Election Commission of India its gravitas. Few remember Sukumar Sen who in an age where technology was non-existent in the electoral process not only got it up and running but did a splendid job.
T Swaminathan, a former ICS officer who conducted the historic March 1977 election got no kudos for it. Self-effacing, he drove out into the sunset. Few remember the then iconic poster in all the official languages across India. “Vote without fear, your vote is secret.” It made a difference. Small but important.
J M Lyngdoh will be remembered for being a good helmsman on Gujarat during 2002 and dealing with the fulminations of then Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, with a rare dignity.
Seshan was the quintessential civil servant who finds his or her enlightenment only after retirement. He was then a young Collector in Madurai. Kodaikanal, fell within his jurisdiction. He was designated as detention officer for Sheikh Abdullah in detention there.
Abdullah had written to Indira Gandhi asking him to be spared the ignominy of his personal letters from his wife, Begum Abdullah, being steamed open and read by the detention officer. Seshan was ticked off by Delhi for being too much of an eager beaver. There is a self-serving account of this in Seshan’s autobiography.
T.N. Seshan got catapulted as Chief Election Commissioner in December 1990 through some astute lobbying with then Prime Minister, Chandrashekar on his behalf.
T.N. Seshan’s mind since 1994 was the incubus of the electoral identity cards. We were told that that these cards were the panacea for the ills of the electoral system. The then nascent data industry hit the mother lode. From Electoral Identity Cards to Aadhar cards to Digiyatra farmed out to a private concern, this cornucopia, sorry, Kamdhenu cow still delivers to the deep state and the surveillance and computer industry. The latest being face recognition technology across many cities in India.
There is a dire need for a comprehensive performance audit of the Election Commission of India.
Election Commission and the BJP Government Confusion, their timeline
The first deletions
In 2015 researchers argued that the marriage of Aadhaar and EPIC will exacerbate the principal problem it is intended to solve: voter disenfranchisement and registration irregularities. An initiative known as the National Electoral Roll and Purification Program (NERPAP). NERPAP operated for a few months before being halted by a Supreme Court decision that limited the use of Aadhaar to four specific welfare schemes. In the brief period it was operational, NERPAP linked the registration information of 320 million voters to their Aadhaar number—but also disenfranchised 3 million voters.
In April 2018, then Union Information Technology (IT) minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that he was personally not in favour of linking Aadhaar card with electoral photo-identity cards (EPIC) of voters as the two served different purposes.
In June 2018, the Election commission stated, that a “new system will ensure real-time tracking of each stage right from the EPIC generation by the Electoral Registration Officer till the delivery of the voter ID card to the elector through the Department of Posts.”
In February 2019, Election officials have said that Electoral Photo Identity Cards were only for new voters, others can use any ID proof.
In December 2022, The Minister of Law and Justice, Kiren Rijiju told Parliament that the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, allowed Electoral Registration Officers to require the existing or prospective elector to provide the Aadhaar number for the Purpose of establishing identity on a voluntary basis.
Consent was to be obtained from the elector for Aadhaar authentication in Form 6B. There was no provision for withdrawing consent. Linking of Aadhaar was process driven and no targets have been given for linking Aadhaar with EPIC, we were told.
We were assured that the ECI strictly follows the guidelines prescribed by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and does not store the Aadhaar numbers in its database. The Aadhaar number is used only for authentication purposes and ECI does not retrieve any personal information from the UIDAI Aadhaar data base.
Earlier Hari Shankar Brahma, a former Chief Election Commissioner welcomed the decision taken by the Centre to introduce the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 which was passed in the Parliament. “It is a very good idea. Linking a voter ID card with an Aadhaar card is best in the country and after that, you can detect and remove duplicate, bogus voter ID cards and purify the electoral rolls and election database….”
In August 2021, the government approached the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) with a proposal to permit the Election Commission (EC) to use Aadhaar for registration of new voters.
Aadhaar verification could be used for faster delivery of some other services such as change of address as well, the Law Ministry suggested.
In July 2023, Dr Sabyasachi Das of Ashoka University published a report called “Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy” which outlined two manipulations in detail that were carried out in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Firstly, Registration manipulation, which is the padding of the electoral roll. By adding and deleting voters strategically. By manufacturing fake voters, most, if not all, of whom vote for the BJP.
Secondly, turnout manipulation, which is the addition of voter tallies after the polls have closed-most, if not all, of whom vote for the BJP.
Examples were given, claims supported. Soon thereafter Ashoka University was raided and given a strict warning by the Government. Dr Sabyasachi Das was fired thus, giving a clear signal to all universities and institutions in India, to not pursue any research pertaining to the electoral system in India. There hangs a tale.
In March 2025, Election Commission was to fix duplicate voter ID numbers issue in 3 months.
In March 2025, a Hindutva publication informed us that, “The Election Commission announced plans to link Aadhaar numbers with Electoral Photo Identity Cards to combat electoral fraud and fake voters. This step follows consultations with UIDAI to enhance the transparency and accuracy of voter rolls.”
In July 2025, the Election Commission informed the Rajya Sabha that there was no category of suspicious voters. It informed Rajya Sabha that the process of linking Aadhaar and voter ID cards have not begun.
In 2025, a bolt from the blue, the ECI decided that Aadhar cards were inadequate.
Then the Supreme Court suggested that they be accepted.
The issues around the present round of disenfranchisement
For the Poor – Ration Cards not sufficient proof
In 1997, the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was launched, focusing on distributing food to the poor through special ration cards. In 2013, The National Food Security Act (NFSA) came into force, providing a legal right to subsidized food grains for a large portion of the population. In 2018, the “One Nation One Ration Card” (ONORC) scheme was launched, enabling portability of ration cards across the country for migrant workers and their families. For the rural poor, the ration card is the most prized possession they receive from the state.
In an incisive article, Prof Irudayam and Arif Nizam have laid bare how nearly 3.5 million migrants (4.4% of the total voters). have been labelled as “permanently migrated” for being absent during house-to-house verification. These voters now face permanent disenfranchisement not just in their places of work but also at home.
Voter ID Card
The Election Commission of India (ECI) requires citizens to produce Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) at the polling station before casting their vote. However, those who are unable to produce their voter’s ID card may use…Passport Driving License Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central/State Govt/PSUs/Public Limited Companies Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office PAN Card Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR MNREGA Job …”
The BJP had its goals mapped out since it came to power in the Modi incarnation in 2014. As early as 2018, Amit Shah, the home minister stated that they were here to stay in power for the next 50 years. The Prime Minister was having 1000-year visions.
Monitoring
The Government will not allow any credible international election monitoring organization into India. It is incumbent that a national group like the Constitutional Conduct Group take up this task. Most of them have conducted elections at all levels and are familiar with the electoral machinery. The Mahagathbandhan initiative of going to the voter is correct.
Democracy has certainly been enriched by universal adult suffrage. The surest way to undermine it is mass disfranchisement of those entitled to vote.
The RSS as pater familias of the Sangh Parivar does not believe in democracy, internal or external. Its adherents duplicitous, swear loyalty to the constitution filing nominations for elections or getting government jobs while seeking to establish a Hindu majoritarian state.
The liberals from the outset revealed a gullibility that is still exasperating. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the slogan in Bihar by feudal vigilante armies near polling booths was,” Vote tu mahara, Booth hamara.” The vote is yours, the booth is ours. All this while they stuffed the electoral boxes!
Technology has come a long way since then, Electronic Voter Machines without Verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) in most cases. Mass deletions of voters from electoral lists across many states in India are dry runs for the general elections. And technology in India is available for precision warfare but not periodically updating digitally readable voters lists.
For us, the bells toll.
