Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said he will launch a 16-day Voter Adhikaar Yatra in poll-bound Bihar from Sunday against the Election Commission’s deletion of names from the electoral rolls the state, even as the Supreme Court continued its hearing on the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists.
Rahul’s march, starting from Sasaram, around 178km south-west of Bihar capital Patna, will pass through Kutumba, Wazirgunj, Sheikhpura, Munger, Kastibagh, Katihar, Purnea, Supaaul, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, Chhapra and Arrah before heading for the last leg in the state capital.
Videograb from X/@INCIndia.
“From August 17 we are launching a direct battle against vote theft in Bihar with the Voter Adhikar Yatra. This will be the decisive battle to protect the principles of democracy, Constitution and one-person, one-vote. We will ensure a clean electoral roll for the entire country,” the Congress announced on the party’s X (formerly known as Twitter) handle on Thursday morning.
The 46-second video promo of the programme also featured RJD leader and Bihar Assembly’s leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, indicating that the two INDIA bloc partners will be taking on the might of the BJP together.
The Yatra announcement comes amid the ongoing legal battle in the Supreme Court against the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar and reported deletion of around 65 lakh voters in the state.
On Wednesday night, the INDIA bloc partners held a meeting in Sasaram to assess the ground mobilisation and preparations for the march.
“The fight to protect our democracy will take place on the streets. Starting August 17 Rahul Gandhi and INDIA parties will embark on a massive vote Adhikar Yatra across Bihar – against the dangerous SIR exercise, and to make the battle against vote chori a mass movement,” said Congress MP K.C. Venugopal.
A week ago, Rahul had presented what he called evidence on electoral roll manipulation in an Assembly constituency under a Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka, which has rattled the BJP and the Election Commission.
While the EC has issued multiple denials, the BJP has tried to turn the tables on its political rivals.
On Wednesday, the BJP claimed Sonia Gandhi’s name was added to the voter list in 1982, a year before she became a citizen. Her name was deleted following a public outcry and added again after she became a citizen.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur alleged fake Muslim voters were added to the rolls in the constituencies of Rae Bareli (Rahul Gandhi), Wayanad (Priyanka Gandhi Vadra), Kannauj (Akhilesh Yadav) and Diamond Harbour (Abhishek Banerjee).
Congress sources said apart from the Mahadevpura Assembly segment in Bengaluru, the party suspected voter manipulation in over 40 seats across the country in the Lok Sabha elections and the party might launch investigations into those seats as well.
