Was Modi’s 400 plus ‘chariot’ stopped by foreign powers? America and Russia have been interfering in every 9th election in the world

New Delhi: China arranged money for a chartered bus in the 2019 elections in Canada. Chinese private high school students were brought in this bus to help Han Dong, a candidate of the Liberal Party, so that he/she can get the candidature from his/her party. These students were forced that if they did not support Han Dong, their student visa could be in trouble and their family members living in China could have to suffer the consequences. This report was given by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the intelligence agency of the Canadian government, in April last year.
It was revealed that the Chinese government had secretly and fraudulently interfered in the 2019 and 2022 elections. It also said that it was found online and on social media that Canadian citizens of Chinese origin were asked not to support Conservative Party (former) leader Erin O’Toole. Toole alleged that the misleading information spread in the election affected his/her election campaign and due to this his/her party lost about nine seats in the 2021 elections. Due to this he/she had to resign as the party leader. PM Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party got a majority in these elections. In the 2019 elections, China gave one lakh 84 thousand US dollars to a worker of an unknown candidate. Apart from this, money was also given to others in an attempt to interfere. Now before and after the Lok Sabha elections in India, many big leaders of BJP have also talked about foreign interference in the elections. Let us understand what is foreign interference in elections and how such cases have come to light around the world. What do the experts say?

America has been the most mischievous in 54 years

Dov H Levin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Hong Kong University, came out with a book in 2020, which created a stir in the whole world. This book was Meddling in the Ballot Box: The Causes and Effects of Partisan Electoral Interventions. This book is based on a study on foreign interference in elections around the world from 1946 to the year 2000. According to this, it has been said that during the last 54 years, America has interfered the most during elections in many countries. Let us understand from the graphic given below who interfered the most in the elections of which countries.

America and Russia interfered in 1 out of every 9 elections in the world

Levin has written in his/her book ‘Meddling in the Ballot Box: The Causes and Effects of Partisan Electoral Intervention’ that 938 elections were examined between 1946 and 2000. Out of these, America interfered in 81 elections, while Russia interfered in 36 elections. If the figures of both are combined, then America and Russia interfered in 117 elections out of 938. That means these two countries have been interfering in 1 out of every 9 elections. This study was done on about 1 lakh people in 148 countries.

China and Russia resort to lies to change the government

A study by Anna Luhrmann, a German political scientist and member of the Alliance 90 The Greens party, came out in 2019. This study was published in the Varieties of Democracy Institute, Sweden. It says that in 2019, every country said that the most lies were told on major political issues. China and Russia are experts in spreading the most lies. China did the same in Taiwan and Russia did the same in Latvia’s elections. Elections were influenced on the basis of false rumours in countries like Bahrain, Qatar and Hungary, Trinidad and Tobago, Switzerland and Uruguay.

Understand the ways of interfering in elections from these two theories

According to Dr. Devnath Pathak, Assistant Professor at South Asian University, a study was published in 2012, in which interference in the elections of other countries was divided into two categories. Partition intervention and process intervention. This theory was given by Korstanz and Maryanov. According to the Partition Intervention Theory, foreign powers support one party of the country in which they interfere and help it win the elections. Whereas, under the Process of Intervention Theory, foreign powers support democratic rules, no matter who wins.

Russian intelligence agents took the help of Facebook

In 2018, the US Senate released a report which said that Russian intelligence agents used Facebook ads to influence the 2016 elections to help Donald Trump win. Russian intelligence agents are known to be experts in assassinating opponents in the world, but they have also played an important role in influencing elections in opposing countries. According to ‘Meddling in the Ballot Box: The Causes and Effects of Partisan Electoral Intervention’, US President Joe Biden signed a bill to ban TikTok or put pressure on it to sell it. The US Parliament believed that China’s ruling Communist Party had influenced the US presidential election and voters.

Canada had accused India, but investigation revealed China

Canada had also conducted an investigation into the issue of foreign interference in its elections, in which it was said that countries like Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan had tried to influence the elections. Canada had also made these allegations against India, but no evidence was found in the investigation. At the same time, sufficient evidence was found of China’s interference in the elections. Britain had also conducted a similar investigation.

China’s cyber army is ruining the elections

Sebastian Whiteman’s book ‘The Digital Divide in Democracy’ says that Microsoft had also warned in one of its reports that China’s cyber army with the support of the Chinese government can influence the upcoming US presidential elections, South Korea and India’s elections. With the help of North Korea, China is getting its own government installed in other countries. China had tried this experiment in Taiwan, but the Taiwanese people have elected an anti-China president.

Allegations of India’s interference in the elections of Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka

It is not that only America, Russia or China have been accused of interfering in elections. India has also been accused of interfering in the elections of Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. However, these allegations could never be proved. These allegations have been made by anti-India leaders Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka, Abdullah Yameen in Maldives and Khaleda Zia in Bangladesh. The European Union had also expressed a report in June last year about the possibility of foreign interference in the elections for the European Parliament.

When Russia helped the German leader in elections

Superpowers like America and Russia have been accused of interfering in elections since the Cold War era. America has been trying to get governments of its choice formed in South American countries while Russia has been trying to get governments of its choice formed in European countries. In 1972, Russia even helped the leader of West Germany to win the confidence vote.

Shivraj said-Foreign powers want BJP not to remain in power

Speaking at the Rajasthan BJP Working Committee meeting in Jaipur after the results of the Lok Sabha elections, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan targeted Rahul Gandhi and said – Our opponents, which includes foreign powers as well, want that there should be no BJP government in our country at any cost. Our opponents are not happy with the pace at which India is growing. Many powers want to harm the BJP. We have to be cautious about this. he/she said that foreign powers are trying to harm the ruling party at any cost because they are unhappy with India’s growth rate.

When Yogi said- foreign forces spread propaganda on social media

Attacking the casteism of opposition parties in a brainstorming meeting held in Lucknow recently after the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that during the elections, the society was divided in the name of caste. For this, propaganda was done on social media through foreign forces. An attempt was made to hurt social harmony by conspiring on a large scale. he/she said that the people of SP also tried to defame Ram-Krishna and Shiva.

Strong cyber system should be created to prevent foreign interference

Last June, BJP MP from Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, Sakshi Maharaj attacked the opposition and said that foreign powers had invested money to ensure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not become PM for the third time. he/she had talked to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister about this and asked the Home Minister to investigate it. he/she said that all this was done as part of a conspiracy and foreign conspiracy was involved in it. Assistant Professor at Delhi University, Dr. Rajiv Ranjan Giri says that in recent years, the talk of foreign interference in elections has increased. This is not just about India, but it is happening all over the world. To stop this, it is necessary to have a strong cyber system. Because, most of the interference is happening through social media.

China interfered in Indian elections through AI: Microsoft

During the Lok Sabha election campaign in May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that foreign powers are trying to influence India’s general elections but they will not succeed in it. PM Modi made this claim in an interview to a news channel. A few days before this, Microsoft had said that China is trying to interfere in India’s elections through artificial intelligence.

Jaishankar lashed out at US religious freedom report before elections

This statement of PM Modi is also being considered as a target on the US report, which mentioned many issues including human rights, arrest of opposition leaders accused of corruption along with CAA. The BJP-led government was criticized in this report. Recently, the Ministry of External Affairs also reacted sharply to the 2024 report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). In this report, India was accused of ‘engaging in or tolerating particularly severe violations of the right to religious freedom’. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said that the Western media considers itself a political actor in the Indian election process.