Even before the official announcement of the Bihar election dates, the agenda for the election appears to have been set. The India coalition, comprising the Congress and RJD parties, is accusing the Election Commission and the BJP of vote theft, citing alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and fraud in the Lok Sabha elections. In response, the BJP has begun targeting opposition parties on the SIR issue, accusing them of supporting infiltrators. Allegations of manipulation in the inclusion of names in electoral rolls and election centers have been leveled against figures ranging from Sonia Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi and Abhishek Banerjee. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah have been vocal in their attacks on the infiltration issue.
Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party have been accusing the Election Commission of rigging elections since the Haryana and Madhya Pradesh elections, alleging collusion with the BJP to manipulate results. The Congress has previously accused the Election Commission of bias towards the BJP in the Haryana and Madhya Pradesh elections, and they made similar accusations during the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
With the announcement of the SIR in Bihar, the India coalition parties jointly protested the move, with 300 coalition MPs marching from Parliament to the Election Commission. Rahul Gandhi held a press conference accusing the Election Commission of fraudulent practices involving one lakh voters in the Mahadevpura Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka. This marked the first time the Election Commission has been directly accused of vote theft. The Election Commission responded sharply by issuing a notice to Rahul Gandhi.
Vote theft has now become a central issue for the opposition. Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav accused BJP leaders of spreading lies and baseless claims as part of their political agenda. He challenged them to provide evidence of any infiltrators identified or removed through the SIR process.
Congress has launched a significant campaign against vote theft on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The accusations of vote theft are directed not only at the Election Commission but also at the BJP and the Modi government.
Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit Bihar from August 17th. He will spend 16 days in Bihar and cover approximately 1300 kilometers during the ‘Voter Rights Yatra.’ The yatra will include participation from Tejashwi Yadav, leaders of the Left parties, and other constituents of the India coalition. The Congress is framing this ‘Voter Rights Yatra’ as a fight to protect democracy and constitutional rights, positioning it as a major issue in the Bihar elections.
In response to the Congress and RJD’s accusations of vote theft, the BJP has launched a counter-offensive. During a program to restore the Maa Janaki temple in Sitamarhi, Bihar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused Rahul Gandhi of opposing the SIR of electoral rolls before the Bihar Assembly elections to protect Bangladeshi infiltrators, asserting that those not born in India have no constitutional right to vote.
On Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned infiltrators in his address from the Red Fort. He also announced a demographic mission, which he stated would protect citizens from demographic changes. He expressed concern about a deliberate conspiracy to alter the country’s demographics, sowing the seeds of a new crisis. He claimed that infiltrators are stealing the livelihoods of the country’s youth, targeting women and daughters, misleading tribals, and seizing their land. The Prime Minister declared that this would not be tolerated.
The BJP has also begun scrutinizing the records of seats won by opposition leaders, making similar accusations. The party is defending the Election Commission while launching a broad counter-attack, blaming the Congress and its allies for the ‘vote theft’ racket.
As the controversy escalates, the BJP’s counter-strategy has become more aggressive. Senior BJP ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupendra Yadav targeted Rahul Gandhi on the SIR issue. The ministers accused Rahul Gandhi of intentionally misrepresenting Election Commission data. They cited the increase in the Maharashtra voter list, claiming a rise of 40 lakh instead of the claimed one crore between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, and highlighted that many seats with the highest increase were won by the Congress or its India bloc allies.
BJP leaders continue to allege that the Congress attempts to discredit the system whenever it loses elections. The BJP accused the opposition of questioning the country’s constitutional institutions, from the Supreme Court and the Election Commission to the army during military operations against neighboring countries.
The Gandhi family has also been targeted in the BJP’s attacks. The party’s IT cell chief unearthed data from the 1980s, alleging that former Congress President Sonia Gandhi was added to the voter rolls before she became an Indian citizen.
Dharmendra Pradhan has alleged that the Congress and its allies are solely engaged in vote bank politics. They want to make infiltrators voters to fulfill their political interests. He claimed that when the Election Commission presents them with accurate facts, they call for the dissolution of the Election Commission. The accusations and counter-accusations have intensified.
Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur accused high-profile constituencies represented by opposition leaders of irregularities in voter registration. These constituencies include Raebareli (formerly Sonia Gandhi’s seat and now Rahul Gandhi’s seat), Wayanad—Rahul Gandhi’s second seat in Kerala, Diamond Harbour—Abhishek Banerjee of TMC, Kannauj—Akhilesh Yadav of SP, Mainpuri—Dimple Yadav’s seat, and Kolathur—Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s constituency. He alleged they won through ‘vote theft’—fake voter registrations, fraudulent voter lists, and by protecting illegal infiltrators.
Following accusations of discrepancies in voter lists from both sides, the integrity of voter lists and voter ID cards has been brought into question, potentially impacting voters’ minds and affecting their trust on election day as ‘vote theft’ becomes a new trend.