Bihar: Protests erupt against special intensive revision of electoral rolls

Patna: Protests erupted across Bihar on Wednesday against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, as part of which top leaders of the Opposition Mahagathbandhan, including Rahul Gandhi, converged in the state capital.

The INDIA Bloc, of which the Mahgathbandhan is a part, is supporting the nationwide ‘chakka jam’ called in protest against the four labour codes, but in Bihar the Opposition coalition has chosen to also highlight its reservations against the SIR, which allegedly threatens to “disenfranchise a substantial number of voters”, barely a few months ahead of the Assembly polls, to “benefit” the ruling NDA.

Gandhi was joined by RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav besides D Raja, MA Baby and Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretaries of CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML) respectively, in a giant procession that commenced at the Income Tax crossing, around a hundred metres from vital installations such as the Patna High Court, besides offices of many political parties.

The leaders stood atop an open vehicle in the midst of a vast sea of workers of the parties helmed by them, as a march was staged to the Election Commission’s office, about a kilometre and a half away.

The procession met with barricades in front of the Vidhan Sabha premises, a stone’s throw from the EC office, where the leaders chose to address the gathering.

Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, was all fire and brimstone as he charged the EC, “comprising persons nominated by the BJP”, with “serving” the party in power and not the people, and trying to “replicate the Maharashtra model” in Bihar by tampering with the electoral rolls.

The former Congress president blamed the alleged manipulation of electoral rolls in the western state for the landslide victory of BJP-led coalition in Assembly polls, “months after it was thrashed in the Lok Sabha elections”.

No violent clashes were reported from any part of the city, which, however, witnessed attempts to block rail and road traffic in several parts.