Lok Sabha elections 2024 | Trivia: Invisible ink, altered ballots—bizarre allegations in 1971 polls

Take a look at interesting tidbits of history associated with the Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi: Elections bring bizarre allegations, especially from those who lose. The story of the 1971 general elections was not too different when allegations were raised that ballot papers had been chemically treated and votes marked in favour of Congress using invisible ink that became visible 72 hours later!

A number of election petitions made their way to the Delhi, Mysore, Bombay, Allahabad High Courts among others and even the Supreme Court but were thrown out after imposing costs on the petitioners.

The then-Chief Election Commissioner S P Sen-Varma detailed the allegations, which he called "bogus", in a section in Unreason in Election Politics on the 1971 polls, which saw the triumph of Indira Gandhi against her detractors after the split in the Congress.

"Those who made this mischievous allegation several days after the declaration of the results wanted perhaps to wreck the Constitution of India and to bring about a political chaos in the whole country and thereby to bring to an end democracy itself in this land," Sen-Varma wrote.

"One shudders to think about the nefarious designs of the persons who conceived this. They have no love for the country or for the welfare or good of the people of this country. To serve their own interests they did not hesitate to bring about chaos, confusion and revolution in this country," he added.

Keep up with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, right here with DH!

Days after the results were declared, he observed, the story gained currency in certain political quarters that a certain percentage of ballot papers in 200-250 seats had been chemically treated.

Initially the Election Commission remained silent about these "wild and fantastic stories", Sen-Varma said, adding if this was done in 200-250 seats, it would have involved 12 crore voters and the entire election machinery there.

Seeking to demolish the allegation, he raised questions that if the ballot papers had been chemically treated, then who supplied the chemicals and whether trained personnel were required to do the job.

"We should not forget in this connection that every paper mill in the country has, as every workshop and factory in the country has, now strong workers' unions. Was it possible that such a colossal conspiracy to manipulate elections in this nefarious manner should escape the notice of the hundreds and thousands of workers of the paper mills, especially when the workers are now extremely vigilant about the activities of the management?" he wrote.

"In the Government Presses there are strong employees' unions owing allegiance to different political parties. Could it have been kept secret from their knowledge? Or were all of them, in hundreds and thousands, bribed by offer of illegal gratification?" he added.

(Disclaimer: This is a revised version of an article published earlier in Deccan Herald)