New Delhi, Aug. 18 -- As I listened to Rahul Gandhi's emphatic, fact-backed, passionate proof of the Election Commission's complicity in massive voter fraud-proof worked out like a neat school project with all the answers right there-I waited for the Commission to do what any responsible guardian of Democracy should do: reassure the people of India that everything was in order.

Instead, what did we get? Rules. Regulations. Clause this, sub-clause that. It was like watching a patient collapse in front of the emergency room and the doctor-white coat on, coffee in hand-saying, "First fill the forms, please!"

"But he's dying!" you cry.

"Yes, yes, we understand," says the doctor, stirring his sugar, "but you see, according to Regulation 12,...