Townhall Times News Desk | July 9, 2025 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has claimed that the special drive to revise Bihar’s voter list is part of a deliberate strategy by the NDA to influence the upcoming state elections, drawing parallels with alleged irregularities during the Maharashtra Assembly polls.
Speaking at a protest by INDIA bloc parties outside the Election Commission’s office in Patna, Gandhi alleged that Bihar was witnessing an orchestrated attempt to “steal the election” similar to what he said happened in Maharashtra. Gandhi holds the post of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Explaining the INDIA bloc’s internal review of the Maharashtra polls, Gandhi said, “Between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, around one crore new voters appeared on the rolls, leading to nearly a 10% jump in turnout. What was striking is that in every seat where the number of voters increased, the BJP ended up winning, and almost all these new votes went to the BJP.”
He criticised the Election Commission, claiming it was working under the BJP’s influence and specifically pointed to the special intensive revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls as an attempt to distort the democratic process. “It is the duty of the Election Commission to uphold the Constitution, but right now it seems to be acting on the BJP’s directives. We will not let the EC take away the voting rights of Bihar’s citizens, especially young voters,” Gandhi asserted.
Gandhi further accused the poll panel of refusing to share critical voter data and booth videography from the Maharashtra Assembly elections, which he believes could have exposed irregularities.
The protest march saw participation from several senior opposition figures, including RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, and CPI general secretary D. Raja, reflecting the INDIA bloc’s united stand against what they termed “election manipulation.”
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