The leader of opposition, Bihar assembly, Mr Tejaswi Yadav has finally uttered the words, the entire opposition was afraid of for the last 10 years. Ever since the controversy over EVM machines was first raised after the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, the debate over the opposition boycotting elections has been going on subterranean. No political party could however muster the courage to pronounce it even as a possibility. Tejaswi Yadav’s statement is both a devastating indictment of the institutional framework of the country, as well as a redeeming claim, where a political party expresses confidence on its support base and the people directly and not through a the state apparatus. In a parliamentary democracy, political parties are precursive of state and are the bearers of public will, of which the state is a manifestation. Therefore parties can exist without the state, but the state cannot exist without parties. Parties are the vehicle of communication which legitimizes power. It is therefore heartening to see a political party and its leadership looking towards the people instead of the state for legitimacy. This confidence will rub over our entire polity, facing a crisis of legitimacy in the face of intense polarization and hegemonic discourse. The fear that most parties had was a distrust of each other, that if they were left alone in a boycott, the system would isolate and devour them. Long stints in power and its ecosystem had created a self doubt about seeking help from the masses. Rahul Gandhi, took the first step, through his epochal Bharat Jodo yatra. It was however just a matter of time before someone did call it out. The arrogance, obstinacy and contempt with which the election commission is dealing with the opposition , meant that not many options were left for them. The ongoing SIR in Bihar proved to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. If the election commission doesn’t take a cue from this, and tries to brazen out the opposition’s concerns and if they are really pushed to boycott the elections, the commission and India’s democratic credentials would suffer irredeemably. It would undermine 8 decades of painstaking efforts to build the democratic edifice. The time the election commission smells the coffee, and gets back to the book.
A Mexican standoff between the opposition and the election commission
