Oppn hits the streets in Bihar over revision of electoral roll

Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the going special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar was an extension of the “Maharashtra model” of rigging the polls in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led coalition. The Congress leader was taking part in the Bihar bandh supported by the Opposition to protest the Election Commission of India’s controversial move.

- Subhash Pathak and Avinash Kumar

Addressing the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc workers during a protest march to the EC's office in Patna, Gandhi alleged: “Maharashtra assembly elections were rigged to favour the BJP and the NDA. They want to repeat it in Bihar, which we will not allow.”

The former Congress president has been targeting ECI since the November 2024 Maharashtra polls, alleging “bogus voters” were added in electoral rolls in the western state. The BJP-led Mahayuti swept the Maharashtra polls, just months after facing defeat in the state during the Lok Sabha polls. He claimed that SIR in Bihar was an extension of the “Maharashtra model” of fudging electoral rolls, adding it would “steal not just people's right to vote but their entire future.”

“They want to replicate the Maharashtra model elsewhere. This time they may try to delete the names of many voters. But they must know this is Bihar. People here can see through the designs,” Gandhi said.