NEW DELHI: The Mahagathbandhan alliance on Wednesday kicked off a "Bihar Bandh" protesting against the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by the Election Commission.
Opposition leaders, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, will lead a protest rally in Patna and plan to encircle the Chief Electoral Office in the state capital.
Tejashwi claimed that the poll body has lost its credibility and become a ‘wing of a political party.’
“The Election Commission has become a wing of a political party. Will two people from Gujarat decide which Bihari voter can vote and which cannot?” Tejashwi asked.
“The Election Commission has lost its credibility. Preparations are underway on a large scale to remove the names of poor people from the voter list. First, their names are being deleted, and then their pensions and rations will also be taken away,” he added.
Why is the opposition protesting ?The Opposition has alleged that the Election Commission, through its special intensive revision of electoral rolls, is snatching voting rights from migrants, Dalits, Mahadalits, and poor voters, calling the campaign a “conspiracy to block votes” ahead of the Bihar Assembly Elections, which are due in three months.
Train halted, tyres BurntWorkers from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and CPM burnt tyres and blocked roads in support of the Bihar Bandh on NH-30 in Patna's Maner.
Party workers were seen raising banners and shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Election Commission.
Meanwhile, RJD's student wing blocked train tracks and NH-82 in Jehanabad.
RJD workers also stopped the Namo Bharat train in Darbhanga.
“We have called this Bandh against the Election Commission, which is working as per someone’s agenda… The public is tired of the government. RJD and the entire INDIA alliance have called for the Bandh,” an RJD worker said.
Supporters of Independent MP Pappu Yadav also stopped an express train in Narpatganj, Araria.
'SIR a normal exercise'The poll body has claimed that the exercise is a standard procedure to update the voter list before every election as mandated by law. It has also undertaken a drive to weed out foreign illegal migrants from the electoral rolls in six states, starting with Bihar.
The poll panel reminded the constitutional provision that says only Indian citizens can vote. "The Constitution of India is supreme. All citizens, political parties, and the Election Commission of India follow the Constitution," EC said in a statement.
The poll panel already has nearly 78,000 booth-level officers (BLOs) and is appointing over 20,000 more for new polling stations, it said.
More than one lakh volunteers will be assisting genuine electors, particularly the old, sick, persons with disabilities, poor, and other vulnerable groups during the special intensive revision.
Out of the existing 7,89,69,844 electors, 4.96 crore electors, whose names are already in the last intensive revision of the Electoral Roll on January 1, 2003, have to "simply verify so, fill the Enumeration Form and submit it."
The enumeration form should be filled between 25 June and 26 July, after which the draft voter list will be published on 1 August 2025; the period for filing claims and objections will be from 1 August to 1 September, and the final voter list will be published on 30 September.