The Election Commission initiated a comprehensive revision of electoral rolls (SIR) before the Bihar assembly elections. This announcement sparked controversy in Bihar, with Congress and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav opposing the EC’s move, calling for a Bihar bandh and even threatening to boycott the elections. They accused the BJP and the Election Commission of rigging votes, but the issue, originating from Bihar, has now become a national one.
The INDIA bloc, the alliance of opposition parties, has turned this into a major issue against the BJP and the Election Commission before the Bihar elections. Different parties of the INDIA alliance, fragmented after the Lok Sabha elections, appear to be uniting on this issue.
This unity of opposition parties is visible not only in states like Bihar, Bengal, and Maharashtra but also in the monsoon session of Parliament and at the national level. Approximately 50 leaders from 25 parties of the alliance attended a dinner hosted by senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. All parties collectively expressed their commitment to opposing the SIR.
On this issue, INDIA bloc MPs, led by Rahul Gandhi, will march from Parliament to the Election Commission on Monday and protest against the alleged “vote theft” in the SIR of electoral rolls. Alliance leaders will also formally meet with election commissioners to register their objections. Approximately 300 MPs from the opposition, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Akhilesh Yadav, and Abhishek Banerjee, will participate in this march.
This protest by the opposition was organized after Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP, citing the Congress’s analysis of the Mahadevpura assembly seat in Karnataka, where he alleged that nearly one lakh votes were “stolen.”
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi reiterated his allegations of “vote theft” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and emphasized that a “clean” electoral roll is essential for free and fair elections. Prior to that, Rahul Gandhi had made similar allegations in the Maharashtra assembly elections. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray have also echoed his sentiments regarding his allegations in the Maharashtra assembly.
Echoing Rahul Gandhi’s allegations, Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has announced a movement against the SIR. Mamata Banerjee, calling the SIR a conspiracy to implement NRC through the backdoor, has urged the people of the state not to fill out any forms. She has written to the Election Commission, requesting two years to conduct the SIR. Mamata Banerjee and her party are also in a complete state of confrontation with the Election Commission.
In this manner, the SIR has provided a common issue for the parties of the INDIA alliance, which fragmented after the Lok Sabha elections. All the parties in the INDIA alliance are united and speaking in one voice on this issue. The Bihar elections have further fueled the movement against the SIR. The INDIA alliance has announced a voter awareness campaign on the issue of election rigging and SIR. This journey, starting from Sasaram, will go to different areas of Bihar for 15 days.
This journey will include Rahul Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav, and other prominent opposition party leaders from the INDIA alliance parties in Bihar and other states. In this way, the entire opposition and top leaders of the opposition will challenge the BJP and Nitish Kumar in the Bihar elections, although how much this narrative of the opposition will translate into votes will be revealed by time and election results.
Senior journalist and political analyst Om Prakash Ashk says that before the Bihar elections, the opposition has made the SIR an issue and is preparing for a movement on it. Since the assembly elections are to be held in Bihar, the focus of the INDIA alliance will remain on Bihar. All the parties of the INDIA bloc are united on this issue, to give it the form of a movement at the national level.
He said that although how much weight the allegations of SIR and election rigging by Rahul Gandhi and the opposition leaders have will be known after investigation, but it is also true that the narratives of the opposition parties have come during the elections. Sometimes they have also flopped, and sometimes they have also benefited. For example, in the Lok Sabha elections, the opposition raised the issue of reservation, constitution, and democracy being in danger, but when the election results came, the NDA government was formed again. Some people say that due to issues like the threat to reservation, the constitution, and democracy, the BJP’s claim of crossing 400 seats this time proved hollow, and the BJP did not get a complete majority. The number of Congress MPs increased, but the INDIA alliance failed to form the government.
Like the threat to reservation, the constitution, and democracy, the INDIA alliance has questioned the Election Commission by making the issue of SIR and election rigging. Like the ED and CBI, the Election Commission is now also on the target of the opposition. An attempt is being made to create a narrative against the BJP that all the constitutional institutions have been hijacked in the BJP government, and this issue has given the opposition parties an excuse to unite.
This unity has started showing in the Vice-Presidential elections as well. Although, if you look at the number of MPs in both houses of Parliament, the victory of the NDA candidate is certain, but the INDIA alliance has decided to jointly field a candidate against the NDA candidate. Political analysts say that allegations of rigging on the Election Commission started from the Haryana assembly elections and the Maharashtra assembly elections. This has become more pronounced before the Bihar assembly elections and has taken a national form. Next year, assembly elections are to be held in a total of five states, including Bengal, Assam, and Tamil Nadu, where these issues are likely to become even more pronounced, and the opposition will use them as a weapon to counter the BJP.
