Sign In
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a press conference at 3 pm on Sunday at the National Media Centre in New Delhi. This will be the Commission’s first media briefing since the launch of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and is expected to address recent political controversies, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of voter fraud.
Earlier this month, the ECI began the Special Intensive Revision of Bihar’s voter list—nearly four months ahead of the scheduled state assembly elections. The move has triggered criticism from opposition parties and has become a contentious topic in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament. In the last week, Rahul Gandhi has stepped up his attacks on the poll body. He has alleged widespread manipulation of the 2024 Lok Sabha election results in favour of the BJP. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha has accused the Commission of adding fake voters to rolls in key states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka, India Today reported.
The row intensified after Gandhi claimed that in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly segment—part of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat—over one lakh fraudulent votes were cast out of 6.5 lakh total. The BJP won the seat in 2024 by 32,707 votes. Gandhi later suggested that similar irregularities may have occurred in up to 70 constituencies where Congress lost by fewer than 50,000 votes.
Coinciding with the ECI briefing, Gandhi will launch a 16-day ‘Voter Rights Yatra’ from Sasaram, Bihar, on August 17. The march, which will end with a rally in Patna on September 1, will cover roughly 1,300 kilometres. Senior RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and other INDIA bloc figures are expected to join the campaign, which the Congress says aims to expose “voter theft” ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls.
Congress leader Pawan Khera alleged that the BJP, in coordination with the Election Commission, manipulated voter rolls and used the SIR process to delete votes from marginalised communities. He called it “a threat to democratic rights.” Citing the Supreme Court’s involvement, Khera added, “This is a fight to protect the right to vote,” stressing that the changes to the voter list are “not just procedural but political.”
