India continues to stand as a democratic nation because its Constitution empowers the people to choose and replace their rulers. While neighbouring countries witnessed repeated governmental upheavals, India has historically avoided such internal ruptures because its citizens trust the electoral process. Time and again, people have used the ballot to send strong messages to those in power. However, this faith has been eroding since the RSS-led BJP and the NDA came to power in 2014. After every central and state election, opposition parties increasingly alleged that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were being tampered with. They often released striking evidence to support their claims, yet the Election Commission and the ruling party remained largely silent or offered explanations many considered inadequate.

Under the Modi government, several changes in electoral procedures deepened this mistrust further. From the process of appointing the Chief Election Commissioner to various administrative decisions, critics argue that the government embedded its influence into the election mechanism itself, altering the democratic character of the system. As allegations of EVM tampering, “vote chori,” issues related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and other irregularities intensified during the 2025 Bihar election, the results—which gave the NDA nearly 190 seats—appeared to strengthen the opposition’s concerns. While the ruling alliance celebrated its victory, disturbing incidents continued to emerge, raising serious questions about whether India’s election process is being manipulated.

One of the earliest incidents came from Muzaffarpur on 6 November, where several voters arrived at their booth only to be informed that their votes had already been cast. Shocked, they displayed their uninked fingers to the authorities, but were still turned away. The RJD highlighted this incident on social media, and only after the video went viral did the Election Commission permit three individuals to vote, attributing the issue to a “misunderstanding” by booth officials. Yet the core question remained unanswered: who had cast their votes?

 

 

In Hajipur, the RJD released CCTV footage showing cameras going dark sequentially while a pickup van entered and left the premises late at night. This suspicious activity intensified fears that EVMs may have been tampered with. Authorities responded only with peripheral explanations, failing to address why the blackout occurred at such a crucial time. In Nalanda too, the RJD alleged that CCTV cameras inside the strong room were non-functional for nearly thirty minutes. The administration dismissed this as a “technical issue,” but critics questioned why such glitches happen repeatedly around sensitive election infrastructure.

A more dramatic incident took place in Sasaram, where a truck carrying empty EVM storage boxes entered the strong room late at night on 12 November. The video went viral, forcing officials to inspect the truck publicly to contain outrage. The administration later claimed that the truck was meant to pick up EVMs after counting on 14 November. But this raised an immediate contradiction: why did the truck enter the strong room two nights before counting day?

Perhaps the most alarming incident occurred in Samastipur. On 8 November, the RJD shared a video showing hundreds of VVPAT slips scattered across a roadside. The visuals projected a startling picture of how the world’s largest democracy was handling its most crucial electoral material. Officials responded by claiming the slips were from mock polls conducted prior to actual voting. The Election Commission ordered action, filed an FIR, and suspended the Assistant Returning Officer. Yet that did little to explain how such sensitive material ended up lying openly on the road.

These incidents become even more concerning when viewed alongside the Election Commission’s own guidelines. Before the Bihar election, the ECI announced strict rules for EVM handling—secure transportation, continuous CCTV surveillance, strong rooms opened only in the presence of party representatives, and separation of reserve/training EVMs from actual ones. The guidelines suggested a system under rigorous security and scrutiny. But the incidents from Bihar showed that these protocols were either not implemented or were ignored, a failure all the more troubling given that these lapses occurred shortly after Rahul Gandhi’s sharp accusations of “Vote Chori.”

If these lapses were mere incompetence, they should have been corrected by now. But similar patterns have been visible since the 2019 Lok Sabha election. On 21 May 2019, Tejashwi Yadav posted on X questioning why EVMs were being moved across North India without clear explanation. That same year, the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party intercepted a mini-truck full of EVMs being taken out of a storage room in Uttar Pradesh’s Domariyaganj seat. Multiple similar incidents were reported across North India during the 2019 general election and in state elections afterward. Instead of addressing these concerns directly, the ECI repeatedly dismissed them as “baseless,” “misleading,” or “factually incorrect,” without engaging with the core issue of transparency.

After Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on “Vote Chori,” the Election Commission’s reactions seemed even more defensive and amateurish. Additional concerns arose when CCTV footage of voters was deleted, total percentages were published without revealing actual voter counts, and shortened timelines between election announcement and polling day made electoral oversight more difficult. All of this contributed to growing suspicion around the Commission’s decisions.

In Bihar 2025 as well, the ECI acted only after the RJD raised concerns publicly or after videos went viral. Despite years of warnings, the Commission appeared to repeat the same lapses. As a result, critical questions remain unanswered: who cast the votes of genuine voters in Muzaffarpur? Was the late-night van activity in Hajipur officially sanctioned? Was Nalanda’s thirty-minute blackout truly just a technical glitch? Why did a truck with empty EVM boxes enter Sasaram’s strong room before counting day? And how did VVPAT slips land carelessly on a roadside in Samastipur?

While the NDA celebrates its biggest electoral victory, these unresolved questions linger in the minds of citizens. They hover like an unsettling shadow over India’s democratic process, shaking the confidence of ordinary people who continue to believe in the sanctity of their vote.