Unsuccessful B.C. Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa says he plans to launch legal action to overturn the victory of his opponent, the NDP's Gary Begg.

It's not surprising that the Surrey-Guildford riding is under such scrutiny, after Begg won the seat, following a recount, by just 22 votes. 

Randhawa and his fellow B.C. Conservatives had every right to scrutinize the vote closely. But the court action is a worrying development. Randhawa is claiming to have found evidence of intimidation and corrupt voting affecting up to 45 votes.

It's unclear how well-founded this evidence is. 

If it turns out to be serious enough to merit the attention of the court and investigators, it should be handled seriously. But 45 votes, even if every single one of them turns out to be fraudulently cast, is not exactly evidence of widespread fraud. In every other riding in the province, it wouldn't even have been enough to change the final result.

It's possible that there are enough irregularities in Surrey-Guildford that the courts may order the election declared null and void, and a new byelection called.

That's fine.

But it's also possible that a judge may look at the evidence and find it lacking. The election will stand.

In that case, it will be incumbent upon Randhawa, B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad, and his entire caucus, to accept that verdict. And not just to accept it, but to accept it with good grace.

The alarming trend of denigrating elections and screaming fraud at every possible opportunity may have started south of the border, but it seems to have a toehold here in Canada.

If your party won, obviously it was a fair vote. But if you lost? Fraud! Conspiracy! Malfeasance!

To have a functioning democracy, we need confidence in the results. That means we do need measures like scrutineers, judicial recounts, a non-partisan elections agency, and even recourse to the courts.

But at some point, the losers have to admit they have lost.

They have to do it gracefully.

They have to admit that more people wanted their opponent in power than wanted them in power.

The B.C. Conservatives need to be cautious about how they react if the courts go against them.

A party that can't admit it can lose can't be trusted with power.