12th Fail was the sleeper hit film of 2023, in which Vikram Massey enacted the real-life story of IAS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma, who went from attending schools where ‘cheating’ was institutionalised, to turning a new leaf and cracking the UPSC exam.
But in Chandigarh, we witnessed the playing out of ‘Election Fail’ – not a film, but an embarrassing, even shocking, reality.
The central character here was Anil Masih, the Returning Officer in Chandigarh’s mayoral elections, that took place on 30 January 2024.
Masih was caught on camera allegedly defacing ballot papers, after which he rejected eight of them as invalid. All the invalid votes belonged to councillors belonging to the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) and the Congress party. Shortly after, Masih declared the BJP’s (Bharatiya Janata Party) candidate the winner, which was only possible because of the eight votes he had declared invalid, i.e., the ballot sheets that he allegedly himself defaced!
Was Masih 'Match-Fixing' to Favour BJP?
It would be naïve to imagine that Anil Masih acted on his own. Since the BJP was the beneficiary of his alleged actions, the Election Commission should be asking Masih if he had been approached by the party, or by someone representing the party — to play favorites so blatantly and demean a sacrosanct electoral process that he was the steward of. As a leading (and loud) TV news anchor has famously often said — ‘the people want to know’ — did Masih help the BJP win Chandigarh’s mayoral election by unfair means?
Adding heft to the questions above are the very strong words used by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who has called out Masih’s actions and Chandigarh’s mayoral election in the harshest of words.
Having watched CCTV footage that shows Masih allegedly defacing certain ballot papers, repeatedly looking over his shoulder like a typical student hurriedly ‘cheating’ in an exam, the CJI called it a ‘mockery of democracy’ and that the actions amounted to ‘murdering democracy’.
It's worth adding here that Masih has been actively involved with the BJP since 2015, mainly with its minority wing. The BJP nominated him as a Chandigarh councillor in 2022. Moreover, the public has seen the damning viral CCTV footage of Masih’s alleged ‘cheating’ that helped the BJP and is surely connecting the dots, even as you read this.
Legally speaking, unless Masih dramatically names someone he may have taken orders from, the buck possibly stops at him. But as the beneficiary of Masih’s alleged ‘match-fixing’, the Supreme Court’s words – ‘murdering democracy’ - should worry the BJP.
The BJP's ‘Laundry List’ of Netas
In recent times, the BJP has already copped criticism for undermining democratic maryada on multiple counts.
For instance, the BJP’s alleged use of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to target opposition-ruled state governments. In Jharkhand, we saw the arrest of Chief Minister Hemant Soren by the ED in an alleged land grab case. He resigned from the CM post just hours before the arrest.
In Delhi, senior AAP leader and Delhi’s former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia is in jail, along with former AAP minister Satyendra Jain. Sisodia was arrested by the CBI as the alleged main conspirator in the liquor excise policy scam, and Jain was arrested by the ED in an alleged money laundering case. Both resigned in early 2023. In recent months, Delhi’s CM Arvind Kejriwal has also received multiple ED summons in the excise policy case, which he has so far ignored, alleging a protracted politically motivated witch hunt.
There is also the ‘laundry list’ of netas whose alleged sins are seen to have been ‘laundered’ clean after they switched to the BJP, or became a BJP ally.
Some of the best known among them – Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP’s CM in Assam, was targeted by the BJP itself while he was a top Congress leader, for his alleged role in a water supply scam. The accusations faded away after he joined the BJP in 2015.
Narayan Rane, the former Shiv Sena strongman, has been accused of money laundering and land scams, but his on-ground influence in Sena strongholds may have pushed the BJP to look away as Rane joined the party in 2019. He is currently a Union Minister. Similarly, Ajit Pawar’s tainted past has also been forgotten after he crossed the floor in 2023, to become a key BJP ally along with a majority of the NCP MLAs, leaving his uncle Sharad Pawar in the lurch.
The list is a lot longer, but we get the idea.
The 'Power-At-Any-Cost' Approach Undermines Democracy
This is not to say that other political parties do not welcome turncoats and politicians tainted with scams and criminality. They do. But the BJP has for long tried to own the moral high ground in this space. But now, they too are clearly ‘open for business’ with politicians of all hues, no questions asked.
This ‘Power-At-Any-Cost’ approach to politics undermines PM Modi’s claim of bringing ‘Ram Rajya’ back to India. Ram Rajya cannot be achieved by making a ‘mockery of democracy’ and democratic values.
Just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud’s words, which he is unlikely to have chosen frivolously, could be seen as a signal to the BJP — a call to the party’s top leaders from the Supreme Court of India to uphold the sanctity of India’s electoral process.
The BJP should also know that Yeh Jo India Hai Na, it is watching.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)