Sunday, 24 August 2025
Sunday, 24 August 2025
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has called the Election Commission “Modi aayog” (Modi’s commission) and accused the central poll body of working as the BJP’s call.
“The EC has lost its credibility. Its special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar is a direct attack on democracy,” said Yadav. “The EC is working as a cell of the BJP; it has become ‘Modi Aayog.’ Its officials are behaving like BJP workers.”
Yadav accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “spreading lies” about infiltrators. “The PM’s statement on ‘infiltrators’ at a rally in Gaya on Friday is a lie. Not a single case of illegal immigrants was cited by the EC in its affidavit before the Supreme Court. Yet the BJP raises this issue to steal votes,” Yadav said.
The Voter Adhikar Yatra moved into Araria on Sunday with a show of street power and motorcycles.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Yadav rode motorcycles through packed streets of Araria in Bihar’s Purnea district as part of the 1,300-km march.
The yatra, according to Congress, seeks to highlight alleged attempts by the BJP to “steal mandates” through electoral malpractice.
Gandhi alleged that the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the eastern state was "institutionalised attempt by the Election Commission to steal votes to help the BJP" and said the INDIA bloc will release a common manifesto soon.
"The INDIA bloc will soon come out with a common manifesto for the Bihar assembly polls. All constituents of the opposition alliance are working unitedly, both ideologically and politically, and the results would be fruitful," Gandhi said.
Former Union minister Anurag Thakur, speaking at a private event in Hamirpur, said Congress under Rahul Gandhi had “already lost around 90 elections” and claimed Gandhi is “haunted by fear of another defeat in the upcoming Bihar polls.”
He accused Gandhi of habitually questioning electronic voting systems. “After every electoral defeat, he blames VVPATs or EVMs. Now, even before the polls, he is making baseless statements about the Election Commission of India,” Thakur said.
BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said :“He says baseless and shameless things. He loses every time — in Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana. He will lose again,” Prasad said.
“If Rahul Gandhi wins in Maharashtra and UP, the Election Commission is right; if he loses, the Election Commission is wrong. Ninety-nine percent of voters have submitted their documents. Bihar can see their (Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav’s) true faces.”
Prasad also criticised Gandhi for using “foul language” against Modi.
Congress leaders have dismissed the BJP’s attacks as part of a coordinated campaign.
Karnataka deputy chief minister D. K. Shivakumar, who joined the yatra in Araria, rejected “false and misleading” social media claims by BJP-linked accounts that he was forced to stand outside a jeep.
“The image being circulated was taken before I joined Rahul Gandhi in the jeep that led the yatra,” Shivakumar said in a post on X. He accused BJP-linked handles of focusing on “photo angles, seating arrangements, and who greeted whom” instead of “the real issue: vote chori.”
“It’s unfortunate (but not surprising). Instead of spending all their energy on photo manipulation, the BJP should spend even 10% of that energy talking about stolen mandates,” he wrote.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also accused the Election Commission of hiding behind district magistrates to cover up alleged vote theft by the BJP.
Speaking to reporters in Lucknow, Yadav alleged that district magistrates were hiding behind chief electoral officers, who in turn were hiding behind the police, while lower level officers, or lekhpals, were being given "free rein to play the government's game".
He added that even after affidavits showing irregularities in voter rolls were produced, only 14 out of 18,000 complaints were investigated.
Yadav said he would join Rahul Gandhi's upcoming INDIA bloc yatra, calling it "a joint programme to strengthen the Opposition and protect democracy."
Launched on August 17 from Sasaram, the 16-day yatra will traverse more than 20 districts before concluding with a rally in Patna on September 1.
