'What did he do for Bihar': Prashant Kishor attacks Rahul Gandhi ahead of Congress leader's visit to state

Prashant Kishor also alleged that Bihar has become a 'factory of labourers'

Ahead of the Bihar assembly election, Jan Suraj founder Prashant Kishor alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's upcoming visit is politically motivated and aimed solely at garnering votes.

“Where was Rahul Gandhi when unemployed youth were wandering door to door? When migrant workers walked home during Covid? What did he do for Bihar’s education, employment and development?” Kishor asked while addressing a gathering at Jagat Singh High School ground in Saraiya block, Muzaffarpur on Thursday.

Kishor also alleged that Bihar has become a “factory of labourers”. “These people have been ruling for the last 40-45 years…People are not going to fall into their trap anymore,” he said.

Kishor also hit back at Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, who recently called him a novice leader.

"I agree—I am a new leader. I don’t have experience in corruption and extortion like them. We are trying to do a different kind of politics," the Jan Suraj founder  said.

According to reports, Gandhi is set to lead a week-long padyatra in poll-bound Bihar as part of a comprehensive plan to protest against the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. A report by  Hindustan Times stated that Gandhi is likely to be accompanied by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav and the proposed march will culminate in a big rally at Patna. "The yatra may start on August 9, though the same is yet to be announced. The route is being finalised,” a Congress insider told HT.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) is all set to publish the draft electoral rolls for Bihar on Friday following the completion of a month-long SIR exercise ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

This would also kick off the process of "claims and objections", which would continue till September 1.  During this period, voters with complaints of wrongful deletion of names can approach the authorities concerned seeking a remedy. The EC claimed there were 7.93 crore registered voters in the state before the SIR began late last month.

The process has faced criticism and protests from the opposition, with concerns over potential mass deletion of voters. In the first stage of SIR, voters were provided with "enumeration forms", either by booth-level officers (BLO) or booth-level agents (BLA) nominated by political parties, which they were to return after putting their signatures and appending documents acceptable as proof of identity.

People also had the option of downloading and submitting these enumeration forms online.

The process was over by July 25 and, according to the EC, "7.23 crore voters" submitted their enumeration forms, while 35 lakh were found to have "permanently migrated or gone untraceable".

Another 22 lakh have been reported to be deceased, while seven lakh people were registered as voters in more than one electoral roll.