In poll-bound Bihar, Rahul to intensify protests against EC with padyatras

After slamming the Election Commission (EC) repeatedly for alleged collusion with the ruling BJP to “manipulate” and “steal” elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to intensify his protests against the poll panel from election-bound Bihar. Having raised the issue of a “compromised” EC in his interactions with the media and at political rallies in the past, the Lok Sabha’s Leader of Opposition will hit the streets of Bihar later this month to protest against the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral rolls.

Also read: Rahul alleges mass deletions in Bihar electoral roll: What are the repercussions?

Rahul is expected to join his party leaders from Bihar in a series of padyatras (foot marches) beginning mid-August. Though details of the yatra route and dates on which Rahul will participate in it are still to be finalised, sources told The Federal that the Congress and its senior Bihar ally, the RJD, are discussing “multiple yatras” across the state, to be conducted in different phases in the run up to the Assembly polls due in October-November.

Discussion on tentative plan

The first of these phases, Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram told The Federal, is expected to begin “soon after Raksha Bandhan”, which falls on August 9, and is likely to cover the south Bihar districts of Kaimur, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Gaya and Nawada before concluding in the state capital, Patna.

Also read: Nitish may pay the price as Chirag, Manjhi spar over Bihar law and order

A tentative plan for the yatras was discussed at a meeting of the coordination committee of the mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance (as the Opposition’s alliance in Bihar is called) on July 30.

“The meeting was chaired by our coordination committee chief (RJD leader) Tejashwi Yadav at his Patna residence and all our allies agreed that the yatra should cover all nine divisions of the state in a phased manner. We are in the process of finalising the details of the yatra, but the first phase will cover districts in the Magadh and Patna divisions. Rahulji, Tejashwiji, and all other senior leaders of our alliance will participate in the yatra. Since Parliament is in session, Rahulji may not be able to join the complete yatra. We will announce the route and other details, including when and where Rahulji will join, in the next day or two,” the Bihar Congress chief said. Efforts are also underway to ensure that Rahul and Tejashwi participate in the yatra together.

SIR issue to dominate yatras

Conversations around the Bihar SIR are expected to dominate the political narrative of the yatra. The Opposition has been claiming that the EC’s sudden announcement of the intensive revision of electoral rolls ahead of the state polls was essentially a “BJP conspiracy” to “disenfranchise lakhs of voters from the poor, marginalised and minority communities” who were expected to vote against the ruling coalition led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Also read: Bihar SIR pleas: SC fixes timeline, hearing on August 12, 13

The Supreme Court’s repeated directions to the EC, in a clutch of petitions filed by Opposition parties, NGOs and activists challenging the SIR, to consider Aadhaar, Ration Card, and EPIC (Voter) ID as valid documents for voter enumeration have failed to prevent the deletion of over 65 lakh electors from Bihar’s 7.9 crore strong electorate. While the EC, which published the draft electoral rolls on August 1, has claimed that a bulk of the deletions fall under three categories – deceased individuals, those who have permanently moved out of Bihar, and those who are registered as voters in more than one place.

The Opposition, however, claims that while the actual number of deletions once the final electoral roll is prepared may be much higher, there are reasons to suspect the bona fides of EC’s claim that the 65 lakh already excluded fall within the three categories the poll panel has cited. Besides, SIR critics also maintain that the entire revision exercise is essentially aimed at not just disenfranchising Opposition voters but, more disturbingly, at reviewing citizenship of select groups; particularly the Muslims, who constitute over 17 per cent of Bihar’s population.

With the SC appearing to be in no hurry to address the many concerns raised in the petitions challenging the SIR, which are now listed for further hearing on August 12, the Opposition believes it has “no option but to hit the streets in protest”. While the Opposition has been relentlessly protesting against the SIR, which is expected to be rolled out nationwide after the conclusion of the Bihar polls, during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, Rahul has been dialling up his attacks at the EC.

Rahul attacks EC

On Saturday (August 2), while addressing a conference on ‘Constitutional Challenges’ organised by the Congress party’s Law, Human Rights and RTI Department at Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital, the Lok Sabha LoP reiterated that the SIR was being carried out “with a clear intent to disenfranchise Dalits, adivasis, poor and minority voters”. He also reiterated his earlier claim of possessing “proof” that the “institution of the Election Commission does not exist”, insinuating that the poll panel had been functioning as an extension of the BJP.

Having claimed earlier that electoral malpractices abetted by the EC had helped the BJP win seats in Karnataka during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and bag a surprise mandate in states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh over the past few years, Rahul claimed on Saturday that “in the coming few days” he would prove “how a Lok Sabha election can be rigged and was rigged.”

Sources in the Congress and RJD told The Federal that their decision to take to Bihar’s streets against the SIR, while also raising issues of a Rs 70,000 crore scam in the Bihar government exposed recently by a CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) report as well as the state’s increasing unemployment and crime graphs, was aimed at showcasing a “combative and alert” Opposition. While Tejashwi had also threatened to “boycott” the Bihar polls if the SIR was not scrapped, sources said “no further discussion” had taken place on the matter among the Grand Alliance constituents at the July 30 meeting chaired by the former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister.

“The case is still going on in the SC and we don’t want to rush into any decision because we are hopeful that ultimately the court will grant us relief... the option of a boycott is a last resort and any discussion on it will now happen only if the SC refuses to grant us relief or if the matter remains unresolved in court till the time the election schedule is actually announced by the EC,” a senior RJD MLA said.

Significance of launching yatra from south Bihar

For now, the focus of the Grand Alliance, thus, will be on highlighting the “injustice” of the SIR and the “conspiracy to disenfranchise our voters”, said sources, adding that the forthcoming yatra “will show the BJP and the EC that we will not let their conspiracy succeed”.

The decision to launch the yatra from south Bihar is significant as the districts on the tentative itinerary had overwhelmingly voted for the Grand Alliance in the 2020 Assembly polls. Of the 46 Assembly segments spread across the districts of Patna, Kaimur, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Nawada and Gaya, the Grand Alliance had won 34 in the last election (RJD - 25, Congress - 6, CPI-MLL - 3) while the NDA had won just 11 (BJP - 8 and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM - 3). During the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress had won the Sasaram Lok Sabha seat, which covers the Kaimur and Rohtas districts while the RJD had bagged the Aurangabad seat, which includes the Aurangabad district and parts of Gaya, the traditional stronghold of HAM chief Manjhi.

While it is unclear whether the first leg of Rahul’s Bihar tour will also traverse through Nitish Kumar’s home turf of Nalanda, sources said the yatra is likely to conclude with a mega rally at Patna’s iconic Gandhi Maidan. Rahul, Tejashwi, CPI-MLL’s general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahni, and several other senior leaders of the Grand Alliance are expected to participate in the rally, which will also formally sound the alliance’s bugle for the upcoming election.