Opposition MPs Stage Massive Protest in Delhi Against Bihar’s Electoral Roll Revision, Allege “Vote Theft”

NEW DELHI-  Over 300 opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) from 25 parties, including the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), staged a high-profile protest march from Parliament House to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi on Monday, decrying the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

The opposition accused the ECI of rushing through a process that could disenfranchise millions of voters, particularly minorities and marginalized communities, ahead of the state’s upcoming assembly elections.

The protest, which began at 11:30 AM from Parliament’s Makar Dwar, saw prominent leaders such as Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress’ Mahua Moitra, and Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar leading the charge.

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The MPs, wearing white caps marked with a red cross over “SIR” and “vote chori” (vote theft), carried banners and placards with slogans like “SIR + Vote Theft = Murder of Democracy” and “SIR – Loktantra Par Vaar” (Attack on Democracy).

They sang the national anthem before setting off toward Nirvachan Sadan, the ECI’s headquarters, via Transport Bhawan.

However, the march was halted by Delhi Police at Transport Bhawan, where barricades had been set up to prevent the protesters from advancing further.

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Tensions escalated as several MPs, including Akhilesh Yadav, Mahua Moitra, Sushmita Dev, and Congress’ Sanjna Jatav and Jothimani, attempted to climb over the barricades, raising slogans against the ECI.

Over 30 MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, were briefly detained and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station. They were released after approximately two hours, with police citing the lack of formal permission for the march and the ECI’s approval for only a 30-member delegation to enter its premises as reasons for the intervention.

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, framed the protest as a “fight to save the Constitution” and the principle of “one person, one vote.” Speaking to reporters after his detention, he said, “The reality is before the entire country.

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This is not a political fight but a fight to save democracy. We want a clean, pure voter list.” Gandhi has repeatedly alleged that the SIR process in Bihar, which involves revising nearly 80 million voter registrations with stringent documentation requirements, risks excluding vulnerable groups, particularly Muslims and those unable to produce documents like birth certificates or passports.

He also reiterated claims of “vote theft” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, citing examples like the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in Karnataka, where he alleged 100,250 votes were manipulated through duplicate voters and invalid addresses.

The ECI has defended the SIR as a routine exercise to update voter rolls by adding new voters and removing ineligible ones, such as deceased individuals or those who have migrated. It emphasized that no voter can be removed without a formal inquiry and a “speaking order” from the Electoral Registration Officer.

The commission also noted that political parties, despite appointing thousands of Booth Level Agents, had not filed formal objections to the draft rolls published on August 1, 2025. However, the opposition, including Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), has labeled the process as “institutional voter cleansing,” drawing parallels to the 2019 citizenship list in Assam, which left nearly 2 million people at risk of statelessness.

The protest disrupted parliamentary proceedings, with both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha facing adjournments. The Lok Sabha was adjourned until 4 PM after passing the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill and the National Sports Governance Bill, while the Rajya Sabha saw disruptions over the opposition’s demand for a debate on the SIR issue.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju criticized the opposition for causing a “logjam” in the Monsoon Session, which began on July 21, and hinted at an early end to the session if disruptions continue.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dismissed the opposition’s allegations as a “well-thought-out strategy” to create anarchy, with Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan defending the SIR as a standard procedure. The BJP argued that the revision is necessary to remove undocumented immigrants, particularly from Bangladesh, from the voter rolls.

Critics, however, warn that the exercise could disproportionately affect Bihar’s Muslim population and other marginalized groups, given the state’s low literacy rates and challenges in accessing required documentation.

The controversy has escalated into a national issue, with opposition leaders from states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu joining the protests, signaling their intent to keep the issue alive beyond Bihar’s elections, scheduled for November 2025.

The ECI has agreed to meet a 30-member opposition delegation to discuss the SIR, but the opposition’s demand for transparent, digital voter rolls and a rollback of the revision remains firm.

As the march concluded with detentions and heated exchanges, the opposition vowed to continue its “fight for democracy,” raising questions about the integrity of India’s electoral process and the ECI’s role in ensuring free and fair elections.