Rahul Gandhi terms Bihar SIR a 'conspiracy' by EC: 'Won't allow mandate to be stolen like Maharashtra'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addresses a rally in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. (Image: X/@INCIndia)

Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Election Commission of India of hatching a conspiracy to "steal the mandate" in Bihar and reasserted his claim that the MVA lost polls in Maharashtra last year due to alleged large-scale manipulation in the voters' list.

"BJP is continuously attacking the Constitution. The way elections were stolen in Maharashtra, a similar attempt is being made to steal elections in Bihar. But we will never let this happen. The Election Commission is working for BJP, not doing its own job," Rahul said addressing a 'Samvidhan Bachao' rally in Odisha's Bhubaneswar on Friday.

BJP लगातार संविधान पर आक्रमण कर रही है

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जिस तरह से महाराष्ट्र में चुनाव चोरी किया गया, उसी तरह से बिहार में चुनाव चोरी करने की कोशिश की जा रही है. पर हम ऐसा कभी नहीं होने देंगे

चुनाव आयोग BJP का काम कर रहा है, अपना काम नहीं कर रहा है@RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/QL9nNnZv6D

— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) July 11, 2025

"One crore new voters appeared between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra, but no one knows who those voters were or where they came from. We repeatedly asked the Election Commission to give us the voters' list give us the video, but the Election Commission is not providing it to us. These people also want to steal Bihar's election, but we will never let that happen," he added.

Rahul's remarks come amid a controversy over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls ordered by the EC in poll-bound Bihar with the Opposition claiming that the exercise would deprive millions of genuine voters of their right to vote.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court, which was hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the EC's exercise, refused to order a stay but asked the poll panel to consider other documents like Aadhaar, EPIC card and ration card as valid documents as it posted the matter for further hearing on July 28.

While ordering the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, the first since 2003, the Election Commission said the exercise was aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants from countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Reacting to the criticism by Opposition parties, the Election Commission said that it has already deployed nearly 78,000 booth-level officers (BLOs) and is appointing an additional 20,000 for new polling stations.

The poll panel further said that over 1 lakh volunteers will be assisting genuine electors during the exercise. Out of the existing 7,89,69,844 electors, 4.96 crore voters, whose names were already in the electoral roll following the SIR in 2003, would only need to fill the enumeration form and submit it.

The enumeration forms are required to be filled between June 25 and July 26. The draft electoral roll will be published on August 1, 2025, and the final voter list will be published on September 30 after allowing a month's time (August 1 to September 1) for filing claims and objections.