Patna: Election Commission officers in Bihar were left waiting on Wednesday after leaders of the Mahagathbandhan alliance failed to meet them over concerns about the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list ahead of assembly elections. While Rahul Gandhi left for Delhi after addressing a rally, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav returned home without visiting the commission’s office.
The opposition’s Bihar bandh against the revision process disrupted transport and markets across the state. Leaders including Rahul Gandhi, CPI’s D Raja, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Mukesh Sahni, Rajesh Kumar and Akhilesh Prasad Singh led a march from Patna’s Income Tax roundabout but were stopped by police near Shaheed Smarak. Addressing supporters there, they accused the Election Commission of deleting voter names under BJP’s influence.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that attempts similar to the Maharashtra ‘vote theft’ were underway in Bihar. The Mahagathbandhan claims that the exclusion of identity cards like Aadhaar and MNREGA from the list of 11 valid documents is unjustified. Tejashwi Prasad Yadav questioned the commission’s authority to decide which documents are valid for voter identification.
The revision process, challenged in the Supreme Court, will be heard on July 10. Despite Election Commission officials waiting to hear the delegation’s concerns, no opposition leaders visited their office after the rally ended.
