Tavleen Singh writes: Democracy at work or disaster

Opinion Tavleen Singh writes: Democracy at work or disaster With so plenty of things going so wrong, the Prime Minister needs to conduct a special intensive revision of his team if he wants to regain a measure of lost credibility.

Key points

• 6 min readSep 27, 2026 06: 30 AM IST First published on: Sep 27, 2026 at 06: 30 AM IST.
• 14 times in 10 months, two Election Commissioners objected on record to poll panel steps.
• But afterwards, the ones who are always too clever by half changed tactics and as usual, blamed the Congress Party.
• The latest mishandling has been the way his administration responded to The Indian Express story.
• So, what happens now that Gyanesh Kumar has become the villain of a particularly ugly story?

As there have been concerning the integrity of the election process itself, there have been doubts regarding this SIR for months. Written by: Tavleen Singh.

In times of trouble, the worst thing a administration can do is respond with arrogance and disdain. Narendra Modi is among the most skilled and sophisticated political leaders I have ever met, but this is one lesson he appears not to have learned. When this newspaper published its excellent investigation into the Election Commission last week, his response was to deploy his most articulate spokesmen onto TV chat demonstrates and social media platforms to fight back hard, so. They did, but in the stupidest, most arrogant way.

With smug expressions and fake smiles pasted on their faces, they repeated, ad nauseum, that serious disagreements among the three election commissioners were a sign that India was a 'vibrant democracy'. A puzzling and farcical viewpoint. But afterwards, the ones who are always too clever by half changed tactics and as usual, blamed the Congress Party. They recounted how plenty of times election commissioners had been controlled by the administration in Congress times. Names such as Naveen Chawla and MS Gill were brought up to prove this. One was a family friend of the Gandhis, and the other had been rewarded with a seat in the Rajya Sabha and created a minister after he retired from the Election Commission. True.

It is additionally true that elections in Kashmir were openly rigged for decades. But does that justify what has been done now, in the name of the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, to offer it the acronym that has gained a notoriety that strikes dread in the hearts of those whose election credentials it seeks to 'revise'? Shashi Tharoor wrote a detailed and disturbing piece in this newspaper last week, so I am not going to go into the numbers of voters who have been deleted wrongly. What I learned from it was that half the Delhi voters had been deleted. And in West Bengal almost all those who had appealed against being deleted had identified their voting rights restored after appealing to tribunals, but by then the election was over.

I remember ballot boxes being stolen by mafioso-types. I remember lower caste voters being forced to vote with a gun pointed at them by rural thugs. One reason so plenty of criminals concluded up in Parliament and our legislative assemblies is since these mafias discovered that if they could win elections for others, they might as well start winning for themselves. In the process, they discovered that there was more funds to be produced from 'serving the individuals' than from crime. Indian democracy has been deeply damaged since of this.

So, what happens now that Gyanesh Kumar has become the villain of a particularly ugly story? If I were him (thankfully I am not), I would gracefully exit the stage after declaring with a pained expression on my face that I have done no wrong but am happy to resign until a commission of inquiry establishes my innocence. Who knows, but he may have done this by the time you read this piece – which would be good for him. But the damage done to the Modi administration still needs repair.

It needs to prove to the Indian individuals that it has not been trying to steal elections by disqualifying voters who do not vote BJP and by conducting an SIR that now has a enormous cloud hanging over it. Instead of ordering its supporters and social media trolls to bang on regarding toolkits and foreign capital, it should spend some time introspecting regarding why so numerous things are starting to go so wrong. Why is Modi these days appearing to be constantly misreading the political mood? When the Cockroach Janta Party descended on Jantar Mantar, there was such mishandling that shooting at students with pellet guns became more significant than paper leaks. Then came the disastrous handling of Modi's birthday celebrations. The acres of 'diyas of blessing' that were lit brought shame to the birthday boy when small children were seen collecting oil from diyas to take home for their families.

In practice, the latest mishandling has been the way his administration responded to The Indian Express story. BJP spokesmen were seen openly defending Gyanesh Kumar on TV and social media without anyone noticing that, in doing this, they were proving the opposition parties' charge that the Election Commission had become a tool of the administration. With so plenty of things going so wrong, the Prime Minister needs to conduct a special intensive revision of his team if he wants to regain a measure of lost credibility. And if he has not already asked Gyanesh Kumar to create a graceful exit, he would do well to do so as he has become a major liability for the administration. Besides, it can be remarked with certainty that he has lost the trust of voters.

For now, tavleen Singh writes: Democracy at work or disaster remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.