INDIA bloc protests in Bihar, says won't let EC steal votes 

The INDIA bloc, led by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, hit the streets in Patna on Wednesday to enforce a bandh in protest against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections.

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Rahul alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) through the electoral roll revision was trying to steal votes in Bihar just like it had stolen the mandate in Maharashtra last year. However, he warned that people of the state would foil the ECI's ploy.

Rahul's allegations came even as earlier in the day, the poll panel, in an effort to blunt the Opposition's attack on SIR, fact-checked some state leaders and rejected as "baseless" their claims about the exercise.

Addressing a massive rally along with leaders of INDIA bloc constituents, namely the RJD, CPI, CPM, CPI (ML) and Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP), Rahul said: "The people of Bihar will never allow the Election Commission to steal the mandate here after what it did in Maharashtra and Haryana. In Maharashtra, the mandate was stolen. Now in Bihar, the right to vote is under threat. We will continue to expose these anti-Constitutional forces. Together with the people and the youth, we will give a fitting reply."

Standing atop a vehicle with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, CPI (ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI general secretary D Raja and others, Rahul alleged that although the INDIA bloc had secured a majority of seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, the subsequent Assembly election saw a dramatic shift. “We found that one crore additional voters were added to the electoral rolls during the Assembly elections,” he claimed.

The Congress leader further said the voter turnout in Maharashtra's Assembly elections increased by 10 per cent. “Wherever the number of voters increased, the BJP won. Names of poor voters were systematically erased from the rolls as part of a well-planned conspiracy,” he added.

He said INDIA bloc leaders had raised concerns about the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar during a meeting with the Election Commissioner and he “spoke the language of the BJP and RSS”.

“The Election Commissioner must remember that he is not a member of any political party. His duty is to safeguard the Constitution,” Rahul said, warning that although the Commissioner might act freely now, the law would not spare him.

Addressing the gathering, Tejashwi said, “The Election Commission has become a puppet of the BJP. With its help, the BJP will first erase the votes of the poor and then take away their ration, pensions, and reservations ultimately stripping them of their right to vote... Biharis won't allow this."

Meanwhile, the poll authority on Wednesday fact-checked some state leaders, rejecting as "baseless" their claims about the exercise.

On RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha's claim that the EC did not give time for a meeting over the issue, the poll panel said he was not on the list of authorised representatives shared by his party. The Commission also rejected claims of RJD leader Tejashwi that the intensive revision will disenfranchise crores of Bihar voters, saying nearly four crore enumeration forms distributed by the poll machinery to electors have been received back.