Leader of Opposition (LOP) Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that attempts were being made to hijack elections in Bihar on the lines of Maharashtra. Gandhi made these remarks while addressing a Congress rally in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
“Like Maharashtra, attempts are being made to hijack elections in Bihar,” Rahul Gandhi alleged at a Congress rally in Bhubaneswar.
Gandhi had earlier alleged irregularities in the Maharashtra voter list – ‘large-scale additions and deletions of voters.’
In February, Gandhi alleged that after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections (which the INDIA bloc won in June), almost 70 lakh new voters” suddenly arrived in Maharashtra ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls [Assembly polls in He later claimed that, “Between the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 32 lakh voters were added to Maharashtra’s electoral rolls over five years.”
In the latest allegations, opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have raised questions on the poll panel’s ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. The Congress has dubbed it ‘a rigging attempt’ orchestrated by the Election Commission under instructions from the ruling regime.
The Supreme Court on July 10 allowed the Election Commission of India to continue with its revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. The top court, however, asked the poll panel to consider using the Aadhaar card, the Election card, and the ration card as valid documents for voter identification.
“At the recent INDIA bloc meeting, we have decided to prevent BJP from hijacking elections in Bihar,” Gandhi said at a Bhubaneswar rally. He also alleged that Odisha is being looted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, similar to what the BJD did during its tenure.
“BJP sides with capitalists while Congress stands with poor people, Dalits, tribals,” Gandhi said.
Officials said Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge arrived in Odisha on Friday to attend the ‘Samvidhan Bachao Samavesh’ here and other party programmes. They travelled seven kilometres from the airport to the meeting venue at Baramunda Ground.
This was Rahul Gandhi’s first visit to Odisha after the BJP formed its maiden government there last year. He had previouslyvisited the state during the election campaign in 2024.
