He argued that if votes are compromised, the Constitution, laws and institutions lose their legitimacy. Gandhi also questioned why anti-incumbency appears absent in several recent BJP victories. Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday intensified his criticism of the electoral system, claiming that the vote is the foundation of India’s democratic structure.
“Haryana swings from one party to another for 50 years. Indira Gandhi won the Bangladesh war, was at the height of her popularity, and then suddenly, within a year or two, massive anti-incumbency, massive pressure.
If our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless,” he said. Shah, does not happen to the BJP,” he said. “From the vote, which is supposed to be protected by the Election Commission, our Constitution gets its power. From the Constitution, our laws are made, and from our laws emerge our institutions. This is a chain. If the vote has been destroyed, then our Constitution has been destroyed. If our Constitution has been destroyed, our laws are illegal. Suddenly anti-incumbency disappears. Maharashtra swings; suddenly it disappears. Uttar Pradesh swings. Sometimes Samajwadi, sometimes BSP; it disappears. Madhya Pradesh, it disappears. Gujarat, it disappears. This has been a fundamental question for us. We can understand the popularity of a person, and the performance of a government, but we cannot understand how anti-incumbency disappears. “In India, there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency that very quickly starts to resist any government. It does not spare anybody. The same exact thing happens to leader after leader after leader. Happens to Congress leaders; it happens to regional parties, but for some reason, it never happens to Mr. Narendra Modi, does not happen to Mr.
Congress leader links alleged vote theft to democratic institutions
Because from the vote, which is supposed to be protected by the Election Commission, our Constitution gets its power, and I want to explain this. Because if the vote is stolen, the legal structure is gone.
And if our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless,” he said. Meaning, if the vote has been stolen and the MPs sitting in Parliament are there based on a stolen vote, then any law they are making is illegal,” he said. “The vote is the foundation of our country. From the vote, the Constitution gets its power. From the Constitution, our laws emerge. And from our laws emerge our institutions. This is a chain, and this chain defines modern India. The thing to understand here is that if the vote has been destroyed, then our Constitution has been destroyed, it no longer has its power, it no longer functions. If our Constitution has been destroyed, our laws are illegal. “I want to emphasise, from ‘vote chori’ comes ‘kanun chori’. And from ‘kanun chori’ comes institutions. And this is the chain that is taking place.
Today, the vote is gone, the law-making system is gone.
