As the 2025 Bihar elections draw near, political tensions are escalating. A major point of contention in the state is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process for the voter list. The RJD, along with most of the India alliance partners, is questioning this process and preparing to protest against the Election Commission. The opposition is vocal both inside and outside Parliament.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that elections are being stolen, claiming to have evidence of this in the form of a case study from a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka. This isn’t the first time the Congress and Rahul Gandhi have raised concerns about the Election Commission. Following the Maharashtra Assembly elections, they alleged that millions of voters were added to the voter list within months. The question now is whether the Congress is eyeing the Bihar elections with the help of Karnataka and Maharashtra, and how effective this plan will be.
Firstly, let’s understand how many voters have been removed from the voter list in Bihar and what the Election Commission has said about including them. The Election Commission has completed the first phase of SIR for the state’s electoral rolls. Out of a total of 7.89 crore voters, over 7.24 crore participated in the process, which ran from June 24 to July 25, 2025. About 65 lakh voters will be excluded from the draft electoral roll. This includes 22 lakh deceased voters, 36 lakh voters who have either permanently left the state or whose whereabouts are unknown, and 7 lakh voters registered elsewhere.
After the SIR data was released, opposition parties raised questions. They alleged that the local election machinery in Bihar could be influenced in favor of the ruling BJP-JD(U) alliance, potentially skewing the entire process in their favor. In response to these allegations, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar issued a statement regarding the publication of the draft electoral roll for Bihar voters on August 1. He said that all 38 district election officers of Bihar would provide physical and digital copies of it to all political parties.
He added that political parties and voters would be given a month, until September 1, to request the addition of eligible citizens’ names or the removal of ineligible names from the draft voter list. The draft will be published on August 1. Voters can submit a form to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of their respective assembly constituencies.
Despite the Election Commission’s statement, the India alliance is planning to continue protesting against the SIR. It has planned a march to the Election Commission headquarters next week. A meeting of the India alliance was held in the Parliament House complex on Thursday, in which all the constituent parties appeared to be in unison. According to sources, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, TMC leader Derek O’Brien, DMK leaders TR Baalu and Tiruchi Siva, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule, and several other leaders were present at the meeting.
Rahul Gandhi has recently alleged that there was manipulation of voter lists in the Karnataka constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, stating that he had uncovered a significant fraud in Karnataka, which he would present in black and white to the public and the Election Commission. They understand what game is being played. They have investigated it in depth.
He said, ‘The problem is that they give the voter list on paper, which cannot be analyzed. For one constituency, we took the voter list and converted it into digital format. It took us six months, but we understood the system of how they (EC) do this, who votes, where the votes are cast and how new voters are created… They are doing this in Bihar under a new system. They will remove voters. Elections are being stolen in the country, and this is the reality.’
Gandhi said, ‘We showed everyone how match-fixing happened in Maharashtra? We investigated a Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka. Large-scale vote theft was found, we will bring it before the public soon.’ After Rahul’s announcement, Congress strategized and said that it would expose the rigging of the Election Commission on August 5.
Congress General Secretary and in-charge of organization, KC Venugopal, said that the party would hold a major protest against this fraud under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi in Bengaluru. It will expose the manipulation in the voter list, as fake voters have been entered and many eligible voters have been removed. Such facts raise serious questions about the integrity of the electoral process. There has been an attempt to deliberately harm democracy. Electoral irregularities will not be tolerated now.
Amidst the Bihar elections, Rahul Gandhi is calling the issue of voter lists in Maharashtra match-fixing. He says the Election Commission cheated in Maharashtra. Questions were asked of them, and they were asked for voter lists and videos, but they were not shown. One crore voters were added in Maharashtra and the election was stolen. In March, he made big allegations in a press conference. Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule were present in this press conference.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha questioned the Election Commission, stating that between the 2019 Assembly and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 32 lakh voters were added to Maharashtra’s voter list. However, in five months, between the 2024 Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections, 39 lakh new voters were added to the state. Now, the question is, why are so many voters being added in just five months after the Lok Sabha elections, as compared to the last five years? Who are these 39 lakh people?
Rahul Gandhi said that one very interesting thing is, why was the number of registered voters in Maharashtra more than the total voter population of the state? According to the government, Maharashtra’s population is 9.54 crore. According to the Election Commission, the number of voters in Maharashtra is more than the total population of Maharashtra. Now, this is a clear rigging. Somehow, voters were suddenly created in Maharashtra. The government itself is saying that our population is 9.54 crore, and the Election Commission has more voters than the population of Maharashtra.
He said that in many places, we have found one thing. The point to understand is that the number of voters voting for Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT, and NCP (SP) has not decreased in the Lok Sabha and Assembly. We got equal votes and this is an example. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress got 1.36 lakh votes, in the Assembly elections, we got 1.34 lakh votes, which is very close. 35 thousand new voters were added, and BJP got 1.9 lakh votes in the Lok Sabha and 1.75 lakh votes in the Assembly elections, of which most of the new voters who gave BJP the victory are from the same 35 thousand new voters who were added.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that there are many voters whose names have been removed. Some voters were transferred from one booth to another. Most of these voters are from Dalit, Adivasi, and minority communities. Congress is once again alleging that votes of SC, ST, OBC communities, and minorities are being stolen in Bihar in the name of voter list revision. Their allegations match the Maharashtra elections. Now it remains to be seen how much damage the Congress can inflict on the ruling BJP-JD(U) with its strategy.
