Congress Plans LoP Rahul Gandhi’s Campaign Against Bihar SIR In August

New Delhi: The Congress is planning to scale up its protests against the controversial Bihar voter list revision, with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi likely to conduct a yatra in the state in August to mobilise public opinion against the Election Commission's move.

According to party insiders, the yatra, which is likely to cover key districts like Sasaram, Nawada and Gaya in the eastern state, could be spread over two weeks and may be rolled out after Independence Day, August 15. The yatra may culminate with a big joint INDIA bloc, which has Congress, RJD and Left parties, rally in the capital Patna towards the end of the next month.

LoP Rahul Gandhi has dubbed the controversial summary intensive revision (SIR) of the Bihar voter list as an alleged 'election theft' through the removal of voters from the electoral rolls by the poll body at the behest of the saffron party.

While the dates and itinerary of the march are being finalised, it will be interspersed with public rallies at which various issues of the people of Bihar, including rising crime and corruption, will be taken up. The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in which lakhs of people could be disenfranchised would also be raised.

"Rahul ji will lead a march in Bihar and raise the issues due to which the public is suffering. The dates are being finalised. He is expected to arrive any day after the Raksha Bandhan, or latest by August 16, and stay for two weeks," Congress legislature party leader (CLP) in Bihar Legislative Assembly, Shakeel Ahmad Khan, told ETV Bharat.

Khan added that the march would be a momentous event, which would fill the entire party and alliance with energy. "Everybody could feel that there is a noticeable verve in the Bihar Congress. Our senior leaders are working hard to keep it up so that the party performs better in the forthcoming Assembly elections," Khan added.

Polling for the 243-seat Bihar Assembly is expected to be held in November this year. Its schedule would be announced after the SIR exercise is over and the electoral rolls are revised. CLP leader in the Bihar Legislative Council and former Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Madan Mohan Jha pointed out that the top brass of the INDIA bloc in the state were worried about conducting the march, especially with Rahul's participation, during the rainy season.

"We do not know about other leaders, but Rahul Gandhi will not face any difficulty in undertaking the march even when it is raining. He has conditioned his body with yatras across the length and breadth of the country in scorching heat, heavy rainfall, and chilly winter," Jha told ETV Bharat.

"During a recent strategy review with the senior party leaders, Rahul Gandhi had asked us to take the SIR message to the people and make them aware of the alleged ‘conspiracy’ to take away their voting rights. He had told us he would be available whenever he was needed. Going to the people comes naturally to our leader. The SIR is a major issue for us as it is about the voting rights of the poor who would be at the receiving end of the exercise. The message of the saffron party’s plan has gone to the people in the state. We need to create more awareness over the issue," AICC secretary in charge of Bihar, Sushil Pasi, told ETV Bharat.

According to the AICC functionary, the picture would be clearer once the draft electoral rolls are out, but there was confusion among the people over the window of a month to file objections till final rolls are out on September 1.

“The poor are more concerned about their daily bread. Most of them lack basic documents and might have missed out on the SIR. How will they manage to locate documents and file objections? It seems a large number of poor voters will be out of the final list. If the same rolls were okay for the previous elections, including the 2024 national elections, why was there a rush to conduct the SIR just months before the assembly elections?” said Pasi.

During the yatra, the Congress managers will also try to rope in RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav to maximise the impact of the protest march, the party insiders said.

The INDIA bloc has opposed the SIR together and staged a Bihar bandh on July 9, which was led by both Rahul Gandhi and Tejaswi Yadav. Subsequently, the bloc parties have been protesting the issue separately but think that joint protests would make a greater impact after the draft voter list is published on Aug 1.

“The INDIA bloc has been regularly protesting the SIR issue outside the parliament since the monsoon session started and will keep on demanding a debate to put pressure on the government. The issue relates to democracy, and the SIR will be conducted across the country after Bihar. We have to fight for the voting rights of the people,” Congress Lok Sabha MP Mohammad Jawed told ETV Bharat.

The bloc is also fighting the issue legally and has taken the SIR case to the Supreme Court, which is hearing the matter. On July 10 and again on July 29, the top court told the Election Commission to consider Aadhar card, EPIC voter ID card and ration card as valid documents for the purpose of the SIR, but the poll panel said it was not possible to do so.

The EC noted that Aadhar was not a proof of citizenship, ration cards could be forged, and the EPIC voter ID card was not a conclusive document for the summary intensive revision. The EC told the SC that its aim was to sanitise the electoral rolls. The next hearing is on Aug 12 and 13.

RJD MP Manoj Jha said, “The INDIA bloc is fighting the SIR together. The state leaders had discussed the strategy for upcoming programs on July 30, along with alliance partners. Our leader, Tejaswi Yadav, has been opposing the SIR in the strongest of terms.”

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