In the escalating standoff over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India (EC) has hit back at the Opposition, calling the allegations of “vote theft” by the Congress and the INDIA bloc “factually incorrect.”
The trigger was a protest march by leaders of the INDIA coalition—Congress, RJD, CPI, and others—accusing the EC of manipulating the voter rolls to disenfranchise the poor, Dalits, backward classes, and minorities. They marched from Parliament to the EC office, calling the revision exercise a blatant assault on democratic rights.
EC’s Counter-Narrative
The EC, in a series of “fact-check” posts on social media, rejected the charge outright. It released video testimonials from representatives of all major political parties, including those making the allegations—Congress, RJD, and CPI—stating that the process was transparent.
The Commission laid out its sequence of meetings with political parties—before, during, and after the publication of the draft electoral rolls—arguing that all stakeholders were involved at every stage. It also provided links to its daily bulletins and detailed orders on the SIR process.
Targeting Leaders
Rahul Gandhi, who had joined the protest earlier in the day, posted on social media that the INDIA bloc’s MPs were suspended from Parliament and forced to take their fight for democracy to the streets. In response, the EC labelled his remarks “misleading”, again pointing to the same procedural evidence.
(EC terms Rahul Gandhi’s social media post on Bihar voter rolls “misleading,” counters with procedural records.)
A Battle Over the Narrative
What we are witnessing is not just a dispute over electoral rolls—it’s a fight over who controls the story of democracy itself. The Opposition frames the SIR exercise as a tool to marginalise vulnerable communities. The EC insists it is a technical, transparent process to “purify” the electoral rolls.
The political temperature will only rise as Bihar heads toward elections, and these claims and counterclaims will shape how voters perceive the institutions meant to safeguard their franchise.
