Ashu Patel

27 Lakh Voters were deleted in West Bengal. These were not 'dead people' or 'bangladeshis'. These were real people who had already appealed to get their votes restored. The Supreme court could’ve delayed the West Bengal elections until the tribunals finished hearing the appeals of these voters. But they didn’t. Only around 1607 voters were restored in time by phase 2 of these elections. Almost every appeal that was heard turned out to be a wrongful deletion. In any functional democracy, this would not count as a free and fair election where a large section of voters have lost their voting rights. I'm not saying that TMC would've won for sure if they were added back, maybe BJP would still win, but the question is about the fairness of these elections. Free and fair elections are a spectrum. Ever since Delhi-Maharashtra-Bihar-Bengal, this needle has moved more and more towards being unfair. Each time somehow the opposition parties participate as usual in the electoral process thinking that they can still pull of a win despite the compromised EC, ED, CBI etc. and each time they have been proven wrong after 2024 Lok Sabha. The question is, at what point will they feel that the level of unfairness is so unfair that elections should be boycotted? I personally feel TMC should have refused to participate in these elections until all those 27 lakh appeals were finished being heard.