Opposition parties should have boycotted the election once the news of the missing 2 million EVMs came out

Modi had destroyed the economy with demonetization and unemployment had hit the highest in decades. Still, Modi wins the election and defeats almost everyone who stood against anyone. How’s that possible? Just as I predicted, it was EVM FRAUD.

There were plenty of opportunities to ensure the fairness of the elections but Indian opposition failed to take action and let Modi & BJP steal the election.

How the tongue-tied Modi stole the election

• Modi was allowed to use government machinery to promote his party. He even asked private airlines to tell passengers about the achievements of his government. (Ministry asks airlines to promote govt’s achievements with flyers, snubbed; https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/centre-asks-airlines-to-promote-modi-govt-s-achievement-with-flyers-119022101176_1.html) His nomination should have been challenged in the EC or the court at that time itself. Indian opposition napped.
  

  BloomberQuint story

• Modi and BJP candidats repeatedly broke the model code of conduct (MCC) but Indian opposition did not seek the removal of EC commissioners who let the BJP get away with it. An election boycott was due at that time but Indian opposition failed to do the needful.
• Nearly 20 lakh EVMs were missing. The moment the news came out, the election process should have been stopped and an investigation started. But, there was barely any reaction. Indian government agencies give their usual lame excuses and Indian parties blithely accept them without protest. It is not beyond the pale of imagination that these EVMs were used to change the vote in favor of the BJP with the connivance of EC officials. Big companies that have increased their balance sheets under Modi would have offered jobs and other opportunities to relatives of cooperating EC officials and election monitors.
• Even though the EVMs were ELECTRONIC, the election process took nearly two months instead of one day. The results should have been declared on the same day but the extended election calendar gave EC and BJP plenty of time to bring in manipulated EVMs and steal the election.
• Indian opposition parties failed to track the EVMs. This allowed BJP and EC to steal the election. Sitting outside strong rooms on counting day was not going to change anything as the fake votes were already cast.
• At the Supreme Court, BJP’s nightwatchman Arun Mishra refused to allow counting of paper slips. Immediately, all Indian political parties should have boycotted the election. Modi’s handlers would have thought they had covered all aspect of the fraud but opposition boycott was not something they could have manipulated. But, as usual, Indian opposition failed to do the right thing. Some politicians were busy planning post-election strategy. Mayawati broke ranks from the opposition and claimed that she would ally with the BJP if they would let her become PM. Beggar’s belief!

Modi has successfully destroyed all institutions – the judiciary, CAG, EC, CBI,… Then, why did Indian opposition parties repose faith in the same institutions? Did they expect the SC to go against the government? Did they expect the EC to give a proper explanation to why so many EVMs were missing? Or, why so many of them were filmed being transported without police escort. Did they expect BJP candidates to be punished for violating the MCC?

What if the SC or the EC had lost their might? Indian opposition should have shown its mettle and boycotted the election. EC can’t just conduct an election with just BJP, independents and NOTA on the ballot! It was a lost opportunity. They can spend another five years ruing their stupidity.

How to prevent Modi/BJP/EC from stealing an election

Not everything is lost. Indian parties even now can bring the SC and EC to their terms by engaging an election boycott. No election participation unless proper explanation is provided for the missing EVMs and the election process changed along these lines:

• The EVM design should be changed. Future EVMs should generate paper slips which are then counted by machines, as votes stored in the memory chips cannot be verified by humans. Printed voting slips can be verified by humans and by machines.
• EVMs and the printed voting slips should have checksum hash codes on the lines of blockchain technology so that vote manipulation can be checked at all levels.
• All voting booths at a polling station should be placed in an open ground in view of all monitoring party delegates. Voting inside schools and other buildings should be avoided.
• The boxes containing the voting slips should be transported and stored only in the view of the monitors.
• The voting should be done in one day all over the country and the result should be declared on the same day. If the EVMs are electronic, then this is possible.
• Before actual vote counting, a test run using dummy voting slips should be performed in the presence of monitors to ensure that they are working properly.
• If there is any complaint about the machines counting the votes, then manual counting should be performed in the presence of party monitors.

Update: After the elections, previously suppressed statistics are tumbling out.