ujjwal kr. SPeAKS

Upon waking up and before going to bed, the first mental exercise or stimulation that I prefer is reading either a book or going through different newspapers to get a sense of my “cogito,ergo sum,”accompanied by a generous serving of black coffee, a recently acquired habit (courtesy of a cherished friend). I’m not here to recount my day; instead, I’m trying to encourage you to introspect. First, take a moment to consider how much of your day is spent on something meant for cursory gratification but has become an all-pervading part of our lives. Second, as an antecedent to the first point, we are looking at the ramifications not only of a personal character but something affecting national life and nations and the world at large. If you haven’t guessed already, I am talking about social media here—Instagram, X,Reddit,Facebook (daddy’s go-to news medium), etc. I didn’t have to work hard to find sample case studies for me to use here to further deliberate upon my point as it’s right out there for people to see. But only for the minds that have not yet been impaired or deprived of thinking from the mindless surfing through of reels , video uploads, and the tweets of trolls turned experts who have turned their pages and their SM accounts as an expert information dissemination tool. Our already high-flying journalistic standards have compelled media houses to follow suit as part of larger algorithm claptrap. The case that I wish to refer here is that of this whole “Vote Chori Campaign” led by the Congress Party under the able leadership of its Prince Rahul Gandhi who according to reelers has now become a true leader ,someone to be reckoned with. For the past few days, we have been hearing about these allegations that the ECI has been colluding with the government .Instagram division bench has already passed a verdict against the EC, only remaining for the much less important one by SC to follow suit.Anyway jokes apart, all of this started with Gandhi’s Press Conference where he took the stage in his reinvented political style,with a ton load of allegations and even a heavier set of paperwork along with PPts in the background all questioning or rather declaring the Election Commission to be in bed with the BJP . The allegations, as they are, were on multiple counts, including the addition of unusually large numbers of voters registered at the same address, duplicate votes, fake or invalid addresses, and the misuse of Form 6 to add new voters, all of which were allegedly intended to steal elections. In a following press conference, the Election Commission and its CEC Gyanesh Kumar addressed these allegations on various counts. However, the CEC couldn’t help himself and turned the point-by-point counter into political rhetoric, giving the impression of a shit show, which was quite rightly so. It’s not the job of the Chief Election Commissioner of India to give Rahul Gandhi, who by the way is the Leader of Opposition, an ultimatum either to take the oath or apologise to the nation. As a graduate in political science and a keen observer, I have a few contentions of my own on this entire narrative. Firstly, the creation and regular updating of electoral rolls are a massive undertaking, especially in a country like ours. Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are enough errors, and neither should you. To address this, we should strive to streamline the process at the elementary level to ensure its thoroughness. For more information on this subject, you can refer to public policy experts. EC did address some of it, such as the Zero address issue and multiple voter IDs. For these, you can refer to their official statements to delve into its merits. Other issues, like the exclusion of 65 lakh voters from the SIR exercise in Bihar, could be addressed through novel or not-so-novel exercises. For example, a former CEC, SY Qureshi, suggested reintroducing the S.A.D (Shifted, Absent, Dead) voters Policy, which was carried out in UP (2007) and later in Gujarat. The basic idea was to create a separate list of these S.A.D voters for each polling station based on door-to-door verification, instead of deleting their names, as the deletion could lead to large-scale disenfranchisement if found erroneous. Apparently, these lists were then handed over to the presiding officers, who were tasked with conducting a thorough check when such voters arrived and recording their actual turnout. This is just one example, among many, that can be observed, including recent innovations in the area. This was as much as one could objectively hold against the Election Commission unless, of course, you’re a partisan or, worse, a dumbfuck. Let’s be clear, all this noise is about the upcoming Bihar elections. The Bihar SIR is subjudice, and the SC has refused to put any stay on the exercise just yet, with the publication of the list of those deleted 65 lakh voters being the only interim relief in operation. Now coming back to the politics of it,after Rahul’s press conference, social media was flooded with reels and half-baked stories about the supposed vote theft. You’ll have to give it to the Congress party for acing the social media game as their reels gained far more traction than the BJP, which needs some serious rejuvenation play to have a chance in the coming years. In today’s age, there’s no “Satyameva Jayate” anymore; it’s a battle of algorithms, narratives, and intelligence. You either win this battle or lose out to the smarter ones, regardless of their agenda. Gone are the days when an individual was supposed to be the sum of his five friends; today, he’s the sum of the last five reels he watched. As someone rightly pointed out on X, this is not a generation of readers but reelers. This is a political problem that requires a political solution, and I don’t think anyone needs to tutor PM Modi on politics. One can better him in any other domain, but here, he’s a complete 100! Someone who can shift the narrative alone with his address ,required he has an able SM team. As for those who rely solely on social media for news, good luck!