Patna (Bihar) [India], September 1 (ANI): Congress leader Pawan Khera on Monday alleged that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has been stealing votes in elections where the opposition has a chance of winning for the past 10 years.
Khera emphasised that the yatra’s purpose extends beyond Bihar, focusing on protecting the voting rights of every Indian citizen, while speaking to ANI on the concluding day of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Patna, Bihar.
Speaking to ANI, Pawan Khera said, “The entire country is coming together because this issue is not limited to Bihar alone but concerns the voting rights of every single voter in the country… For the past 10 years, we have been seeing that in those elections where we even have a chance of winning, they (NDA) steal the votes and sit on the stolen chair….”
The yatra, which began on August 17 from Sasaram, covered over 1,300 kilometres and 110 assembly constituencies in 25 districts of Bihar.
The ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ will conclude with a grand procession in Patna, starting from Gandhi Maidan and ending at the statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Senior opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Tejashwi Yadav, and other INDIA bloc leaders, will participate in the march.
The rally began on August 17, with Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav riding together in Sasaram. From there, the rally spanned across 25 districts, to Aurangabad, Gayaji, Siwan, and others.
Multiple other INDIA bloc leaders have attended the yatra at various points. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin have joined the rally.
Other chief ministers, including Karnataka Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu, and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, participated in the yatra.
Khera also hit out at the Election Commission for rejecting the party’s claim of submitting 89 lakh complaints during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
He accused the Commission of making excuses and said, “They are not even accepting our objections through BLA… We have delivered 89 lakh complaints to you (Election Commission), but you are saying the process is wrong. This is all just excuses to steal votes.”
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has received 2,40,891 claims and objections from electors directly. Of these, the disposal of 38,342 claims and objections by EC comes after seven days. Of the 2,40,891 claims and objections from electors, 2,07,565 have been filed for exclusion, while 33,326 have been filed for inclusion.
The EC received 118 claims and objections in total from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2025 of the electoral rolls in Bihar.
Of the 118 claims and objections, the CPI (ML) Liberation filed 103 for exclusion of names, while 15 were filed for inclusion.
The process of filing claims and objections will close on September 1.
According to the rules, claims and objections are to be disposed of by the concerned ERO/AERO, not before the expiry of the seven-day notice period and after verification of eligibility.
As per SIR orders, no name can be deleted from the draft list published on August 1, 2025, without passing a speaking order by the ERO/AERO. After conducting an enquiry and giving a fair and reasonable opportunity, the ECI said.
The SIR exercise in Bihar began on June 24. Approximately 65 lakh electors were found to be ineligible and were not included in the draft roll published on August 1. (ANI)
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