NHRC office-bearers are handpicked to ensure that the charter of human rights remains merely on paper. Although meant to protect the citizens, the rights body has instead resorted to covering the government’s violations.
Democracy, the highest form of human rights, is at peril in India today. The 2023 V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden report refers to India as “one of the worst autocratisers in the last 10 years” and places India in the bottom 40-50% on its Liberal Democracy Index at rank 97, below even Nigeria. India also ranks 108 on the Electoral Democracy Index. In 2021, the same institute classified India as an “electoral autocracy”.
In such a decaying democracy, there are several factors that indicate clear and present danger to free and fair elections to India’s parliament that are just around-the-corner. People have also opposed the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and demanded a return to the paper ballot in particular. The INDIA block of opposition parties has also echoed this demand. At the core of these demands is the scathing criticism of the Election Commission of India (ECI), indicating that many have lost trust in the election watchdog.
UN High Commission for Human Rights has recognised people’s right to participate in the conduct of public affairs as a fundamental imperative. According to the commission genuine and credible elections remain the most compelling and effective way for people to participate in governance and have their voices heard. Genuine and credible elections are nourished by a complex ecosystem made up of interlocking human rights protections: the impartial rule of law; and respect for fundamental freedoms and essential rights, such as education, which empower people to make free and informed choices. And this fundamental human right imperative of free and fair election is under grave threat in India….
https://thewire.in/rights/the-national-human-rights-commission-is-a-wolf-in-wolfs-clothing
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