New Delhi : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged voter fraud in Bihar on Thursday and accused the Election Commission of acting in favour of the BJP. He shared a video posted by a journalist claiming that government officials were filling out voter forms and signing them without the knowledge of the voters.
Gandhi further questioned whether the Election Commission still functions as a neutral body or has completely turned into the BJP's "Election Theft" branch. In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi shared a video and wrote, "In Bihar, the Election Commission was caught red-handed stealing votes in the name of 'SIR'. Their job is just theft, named 'SIR' - an FIR will be filed against those who expose them! Is the EC still the 'Election Commission' or has it completely become BJP's 'Election Theft' branch?
Recently, on July 10, the Supreme Court has allowed EC to continue Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls while advising them to consider allowing Aadhaar, ration cards, and electoral photo identity cards as admissible documents to prove voter identity.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi stated in its order, "We are of the prima facie opinion that in the interest of justice, the Election Commission will also include documents like Aadhaar, Ration Card, Voter ID card, etc. It is for the ECI to decide whether it wants to accept the documents or not, and if it does not, then provide reasons for its decision, which shall be sufficient to satisfy the petitioners. Meanwhile, petitioners are not pressing for an interim stay."
The Election Commission of India (ECI) stated that, as of Saturday evening, 80.11 per cent of electors in Bihar had submitted their forms, indicating that the commission is progressing towards completing the collection of Enumeration Forms (EFs) before the stipulated deadline of July 25.
Bihar elections are expected to be held later this year, in October or November; however, ECI has not announced an official date. While the NDA, comprising the BJP, JD(U), and LJP, will once again seek to continue its stint in Bihar, the INDIA bloc, comprising the RJD, Congress, and left parties, will aim to unseat Nitish Kumar.
In the current Bihar Assembly, comprising 243 members, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) consists of 131 members, with the BJP having 80 MLAs, JD(U) having 45, HAM(S) having 4, and the support of two independent candidates. The Opposition's INDIA Bloc comprises 111 members, with the RJD leading with 77 MLAs, followed by the Congress with 19, the CPI(ML) with 11, the CPI(M) with 2, and the CPI with 2.