Maharashtra polls were rigged,won't allow same in Bihar: Rahul Gandhi

Patna: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednes day alleged that the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections were "rigged" to favour the BJP and claimed that the NDA government at the Centre wants to repeat it in the Bihar polls due later this year.

Addressing INDIA bloc workers during a protest march to the Election Commission's office in Patna against the ongoing special in tensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, Gandhi said, "Maharashtra assembly elections were rigged to favour the BJP and the NDA. They want to repeat it in Bihar, which we will not allow."

He alleged that the special inten sive revision was an extension of the 'Maharashtra model' of fudging electoral rolls and would "steal not just people's right to vote but their entire future".

"The Election Commission must protect the Constitution... it is work ing on instructions from the BJP. These Election Commissioners have been nominated by the BJP. The special intensive revision of the electoral rolls is an attempt to steal an election. We will not allow the EC to steal the (voting) rights of the electorate, especially the youth," he said.

The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, who arrived in the state capital in the morning, was accompanied by leaders of alli ance partners such as Tejashwi Yadav of RJD, besides D Raja, M A Baby and Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretaries of CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML), respectively.

He alleged that the Election Commission comprised persons "nomi nated by the BJP" and the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar was aimed at "serving" the party in power. Gandhi had flown down to join the state-wide protests which are a part of the nationwide 'chakka jam' called by trade unions against the four new labour codes, to which in Bihar has been added the issue of the electoral roll revision.

Waving a red copy of the Constitution, that has become his style, he said, "The EC has, of late, been speaking the language of the BJP RSS. Earlier, EC members' selection involved the Chief Justice of India and the LoP. But now, we are virtually kept out of the process and handed over a piece of paper con taining names of Election Commis sioners nominated by the BJP."

"We have already exposed the Maharashtra model," Gandhi said, alluding to alleged addition 'bogus voters' in electoral rolls of the west ern state.(PTI)