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. 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.
“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. “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. 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.
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. “Haryana swings from one party to another for 50 years.
And if our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless,” he said.
