Congress to escalate nationwide protests over alleged voter roll manipulation in Bihar.
New Delhi: With Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleging large-scale “vote chori” during the Lok Sabha polls last year and also through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar, the Congress has now planned to take the issue to the people through protests across the country.
Rahul Gandhi is set to kick off his “Matdata Adhikar Yatra” from August 17 in Bihar, covering at least 21 districts, beginning from Sasaram and continuing for 15 days until Ara, to highlight the alleged vote deletion in the state. Bihar’s assembly polls for 243 seats will take place later this year, in October and November.
Speaking to NewsX about Rahul Gandhi’s planned yatra, senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP from Katihar Tariq Anwar said, “This yatra will be very successful. People are eager to have Rahul Gandhi among them, and the people, party workers, and leaders are preparing for this.”
Anwar said the yatra will have immense impact in Bihar. He added that Rahul Gandhi’s August 7 press conference in Delhi, where he alleged that the Election Commission was aiding ruling parties, had amplified the significance of the yatra. “The evidence and documents he showed have created the impression that the poll panel is working to bring the ruling parties back to power,” Anwar claimed.
He further stated that after this episode, the role of the Election Commission in upcoming Bihar elections — as in a Karnataka assembly seat, and in Haryana, Maharashtra, and other state polls — appeared suspicious.
Rahul Gandhi’s Matdata Adhikar Rally will pass through Sasaram, Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Munger, and Bhagalpur; and will also cover Katihar, Purnea, Araria, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, and Saran. The yatra will conclude at Ara, about 50 km west of Patna.
Besides Rahul Gandhi, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, Left party leaders, and VIP leaders will join the yatra and address multiple public meetings.
The Congress has convened a meeting of all party general secretaries, state in-charges, state unit chiefs, and heads of other party wings — including the Minority Department, Indian Youth Congress, Mahila Congress, Seva Dal, and NSUI — to deliberate on the vote theft and SIR issues in Bihar on August 11 at 4:30 pm at its new headquarters, Indira Bhawan.
Party sources said that the meeting, chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, will issue clear instructions for massive protests, press conferences, and public meetings nationwide on the issue.
Earlier this week, Rahul Gandhi hosted INDIA bloc leaders at his residence, presenting evidence of alleged large-scale vote theft by the Election Commission. The bloc leaders backed his claims and agreed to raise the matter inside and outside Parliament in the coming days.
The Congress and the Election Commission have been engaged in a bitter war of words over the “vote theft” allegations, with the poll panel demanding Rahul Gandhi either sign a declaration or apologise to the nation.
With Bihar’s assembly polls just months away, the Congress and its Mahagathbandhan allies in the state are determined to keep the SIR controversy — which they call “vote bandi” and “daylight dacoity of votes”—at the centre of their campaign. According to party sources, the Congress will use Rahul Gandhi’s Matdata Adhikar Yatra to aggressively highlight how names of eligible voters, particularly from backward classes, migrant workers, and minority communities, were allegedly deleted from electoral rolls.
