The Wire’s Conspiracy Meltdown: Desperate Delusions of a Dying Opposition Blaming the Election Commission for Their Own Failures

When a party keeps losing elections but refuses to look in the mirror, conspiracy theories become their only survival kit. That is exactly what The Wire has served up with Anand Teltumbde’s latest rant, “Fall of Democracy’s Last Bastion: Election Commission as the BJP’s Strategic Shield.” It is not journalism—it is the diary of a sulking opposition, written with ink made of paranoia and tears.

Let’s cut through the noise. If the Election Commission (ECI) is really the BJP’s “shield,” then why does the BJP suffer losses in states where it desperately wanted to win? Why did the BJP lose Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand, both high-stakes battlegrounds? Why did Congress sweep Karnataka in 2023 and Himachal in 2022? If the ECI was “bending over backwards for Modi,” as The Wire imagines, none of this would ever happen. But facts, as always, are inconvenient for The Wire and its echo chambers.

The False Start: Sanjay Kumar’s Blunder

This entire “vote chori” drama began not with facts but with a mistake. On August 17, 2025, Sanjay Kumar of CSDS tweeted figures suggesting Maharashtra’s electorate had magically grown by 2.5 crore between Lok Sabha 2024 and Vidhan Sabha 2024. Congress leaders, especially Rahul Gandhi, grabbed this number like a drowning man clutching a straw, screaming “rigging!” during his so-called ‘Save the Constitution’ yatra.

But what happened next? The psephologist himself apologized two days later, admitting his team “misread the rows” and confused votes polled with total electors. He deleted the tweet, went on TV to say it was a blunder, and clarified that no such voter surge existed. Yet, Congress and its allies did not retract their lies. They weaponized a wrong figure, spread it through speeches and WhatsApp groups, and created a fake storm. That’s where the whole narrative began.

If your entire “rigging” charge rests on an admitted clerical error, you’re not exposing democracy’s downfall—you’re exposing your own desperation.

Where Was the “ECI Shield” Here?

• Jammu & Kashmir 2024: National Conference won 42, Congress 6. BJP managed only 29. If the EC was rigged, wouldn’t BJP have grabbed the Valley instead of being routed?
• Jharkhand 2024: JMM-Congress alliance bagged 56 seats, BJP slumped to 21. Again, no “shield.”
• Karnataka 2023: Congress stormed to 135 seats, BJP down to 66. By Wire-logic, was EC rigged for Congress?
• Himachal 2022: Congress won 40, BJP 25. EC worked fine there too.
• UP Lok Sabha 2024: SP and Congress won 43 seats together, NDA shrank to 36. Did SP and Congress “steal votes”?

So, when the opposition wins, EC is “independent.” When BJP wins, EC is “sold out.” That hypocrisy itself is the biggest proof that this “vote chori” narrative is baseless propaganda.

Voter Behavior is Not Static

The Wire ignores a basic truth: people vote differently in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. This is not new—it has been happening for decades, even when Congress ruled Delhi. In national polls, voters prioritize leadership, security, and national issues. In state polls, local governance, caste equations, and community mobilization dominate.

For example, in constituencies with a 60% Hindu and 40% Muslim split, BJP may sweep Lok Sabha due to Hindu consolidation on national issues. But in Vidhan Sabha, the same 40% Muslim voters can swing multiple segments to Congress or its allies because of concentrated presence in local seats. That’s not “vote chori”—that’s democracy.

Maharashtra proves this perfectly. BJP’s alliance won 235 out of 288 Assembly seats in 2024, despite struggling in Lok Sabha months earlier. Why? Because voters judged the MVA’s corruption and instability at the state level. The same happened in Haryana where BJP beat back Congress in assembly despite Lok Sabha reversals. Voters are dynamic, not robots.

Congress’s Problem: Corruption, Not the EC

Instead of crying “ECI bias,” Congress should introspect on why people distrust them. Their record speaks volumes:

• Maharashtra MVA loot – COVID-era scams, ventilator frauds, and ministers like Anil Deshmukh jailed for extortion.
• UPA-era scams – 2G (₹1.76 lakh crore), Coal (₹1.86 lakh crore), Commonwealth (₹70,000 crore).
• Bofors scandal – The Nehru-Gandhi family’s golden legacy of corruption.

This is why “everybody hates Congress and its allies” in states like Maharashtra, Haryana, Himachal, and Karnataka. People know the party has looted for decades. Blaming the EC is just an excuse to avoid accountability.

The Opposition’s Double Standards

To expose the hypocrisy, here’s a comparison:

The trend is crystal clear: “Vote chori” is only alleged when BJP wins. When Congress or allies win, it’s conveniently the “people’s mandate.” This selective outrage exposes the opposition’s intellectual bankruptcy.

Stop Crying, Start Working

The Wire’s article is not analysis; it is therapy for a defeated opposition. Instead of admitting that Congress and its allies are deeply unpopular because of decades of corruption and opportunism, they invent conspiracy theories about the Election Commission.

The truth is simple: The Election Commission has overseen India’s elections fairly for 75 years, including during Congress’s monopoly era. Voters are not fools—they change their choices depending on national vs state priorities, and sometimes based on immediate local issues. That’s democracy.

The opposition’s refusal to accept this reality is why they remain irrelevant. If democracy has a “last bastion,” it isn’t the Election Commission—it is the voter. And India’s voters have rejected the corrupt politics of Congress time and again, no matter how much noise their media friends make.

Author : Sandeep Gandotra, is a serial entrepreneur, startup founder, social media influencer and political analyst with 25 years of overall experience. Tweets at Sandeep Gandotra