What is free and fair election?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_fair_election

• legal framework (whether there was a constitutional right of citizens to vote and seek office, whether elections were held at regular intervals, and whether election-related laws were not changed immediately before an election);
• electoral management (whether gerrymandering occurred and whether election management bodies, if they existed, were independent, impartial, and accountable);
• electoral rights (whether citizens were generally able to vote on the basis of equal suffrage and access);
• voter registers (whether they were accurate, current, and open to voters for easy and effective voter registration);
• nomination rules/ballot access (whether candidates had in practice a right to compete in the election, with rejections of candidate applications being based on "internationally recognizable and acceptable norms" and with no candidate receiving more than 75% of the votes, a signal of malpractice or election boycotts);
• campaign process (whether elections were carried out without violence, intimidation, bribery (vote buying), use of government resources to advantage the incumbent, or a "massive financial advantages" for the incumbent);
• media access (whether freedom of speech was protected and whether the ruling party was disproportionately benefited by government-owned media);
• voting process (whether elections were conducted by secret ballot on a one person, one vote basis, with adequate security to protect voters and protection against ballot box stuffing, multiple voting, destruction of valid ballots, and other forms of manipulation);
• role of officials (whether the election was administered with adequately trained personnel, free from campaigning or intimidation at polling places, and with the ability of international election observers and party representatives to observe polling places); and
• counting of votes (whether votes were tabulated transparently and free of fraud or tampering)

Question raised about free and fair election in India?

https://thewire.in/politics/for-the-first-time-indias-elections-are-under-international-scrutiny

Do Indian citizens enjoy universal suffrage?

According to one estimate, millions of Muslim and Dalit voters were missing from electoral rolls across the country in 2019. There are similar reports of exclusion of Christians, as well as of internal migrants and the homeless.

Voters in Jammu and Kashmir, numbering about 10 million, have not had a chance to vote in elections to the state (and now union territory) assembly since 2018, denying them their basic right to take part in elections.

In Assam, ‘Doubtful Voters’ (Marked as “D-Voters” by the Election Commission of India), who number around 100,000 and are mostly Bengali-speaking Muslim, as well as the 1.9 million persons from different backgrounds excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC), risk their right to vote being denied.

Is EMV voting/counting democratic?

The ECI has refused to address concerns about flaws with electronic voting machines (EVM) used in elections in India in place of paper ballots. The design and implementation of EVMs, as well as the results of both software and hardware verification, have not been made public. They have also not been opened to full independent review. Though Voter Verified Paper and Audit Trails (VVPAT) are now installed in every EVM, no paper slips are counted and matched to verify or audit the votes polled, or votes counted before making the results public. It also does not provide guarantees against hacking, tampering, and spurious vote injections. According to experts, because of the absence of end-to-end verifiability, the present EVM-VVAPAT system is not robust and therefore unfit for democratic elections.

Do Indian voters have real political choice?

Since it gained power, the BJP-led Union government has systematically targeted opposition parties, whilst it has sought to strengthen its hold.

Central investigating agencies have initiated a slew of criminal cases against opposition leaders. According to one report, 90% of all cases against political leaders since 2014, by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, have been against those from opposition parties.

Between 2017 and 2023, the ruling party reportedly cornered an estimated $800 million of the $1.45 billion raised by all parties, via the electoral bond scheme (EBS). This was possible due to the opaque nature of EBS and the control that the BJP-led administration has on its operations.

There is evidence of brazen quid-pro-quo, arm-twisting and blackmailing by the ruling party and misuse of enforcement agencies while garnering these donations.

Are Indian voters able to make an informed choice?

The ruling party has monopolised the information space, to the exclusion of opposition political parties, and has deepened its already-expansive powers to control the free flow of information.

Indian media is increasingly concentrated in a few corporate hands and have been shown to have direct political ties to the ruling party. Their programming is also openly supportive of the ruling party and hostile to the opposition.

Pro-ruling party actors also dominate social media networks. BJP’s “IT Cell” has often been accused of deliberately stoking communal tensions and disseminating disinformation, under the protection provided by its top leadership.

Central government agencies have intensified their muzzling of independent media and fact-checkers, including through the use of anti-terror and national security laws.

Ruling party appear to have doubled down on religious polarisation for electoral gains. Direct calls to violence against Muslims and other minorities continue, alongside dehumanising rhetoric by influential leaders in online as well as physical fora.

Against a backdrop of a highly communally charged atmosphere that voters are heading into in the upcoming elections, the emerging threats posed by AI-powered deepfakes and other technology are particularly concerning.

Is the conduct of elections in India independent and objective?

Despite enjoying substantial powers, ECI has been wanting in its enforcement of existing laws, rules, and model codes to ensure free and fair elections. Allegations have included:

Pro-ruling party bias in its announcement of election schedule and dates.

Failure to strictly enforce the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), including guidelines against communal election speeches, particularly those conducted by top BJP leaders.

Failure to engage meaningfully with stakeholders, including political parties, on key concerns including integrity of electoral rolls and the lack of end-to-end verifiability in EVM-VVPATs.

Central to the ECI’s partisan performance is its lack of independence from control by the Executive. Recent changes to the appointments process give total control of ECI to the ruling party. This is a body blow to an already weak system for conducting free and fair elections, resulting in a very uneven playing-field for contestants. Recent hurried resignation of one Election Commissioner and appointment of two give further credence to fears that the General Election in 2024 will be conducted by officials subservient to the ruling party.