Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav launched a fierce attack on the Election Commission of India during the Bihar Bandh rally on Wednesday, accusing it of acting as a political tool of the ruling NDA and referring to it as “Godi Aayog.”
Addressing a massive gathering in Patna, Yadav alleged that the ongoing revision of the electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar was a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise poor and marginalized voters under the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“The Bihar Bandh is to protest how the Election Commission has turned into ‘Godi Aayog’. NDA is staring at defeat, and now they’re misusing the Election Commission to erase the names of Bihar’s poor from the voter list,” Yadav said.
He further claimed that the plan was part of a larger conspiracy to remove the votes of nearly 4.5 crore migrant workers, Dalits, backward classes, and extremely backward communities from the electoral rolls.
“They want to silence the voices of those at the lowest rungs of society by robbing them of their right to vote,” he added.
Yadav expressed gratitude to INDIA bloc allies for joining the protest and specifically thanked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for his support.
“We thank everyone in the Mahagathbandhan, especially Rahul Ji, for standing shoulder to shoulder with us revolutionaries in today’s Bihar Bandh,” he said.
The rally saw participation from several INDIA bloc leaders including CPI General Secretary D. Raja, CPI-ML leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar Congress President Rajesh Ram, Kanhaiya Kumar, and Sanjay Yadav.
CPI’s D. Raja also took aim at the central government, stating,
“The Modi government supports Ambani and Adani, but neglects the poor.”
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India responded to the controversy, asserting that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise was progressing smoothly. According to the ECI, as of July 8, over 3.70 crore Enumeration Forms—representing 46.95% of Bihar’s 7.90 crore voters—had already been collected in just 14 days since the drive began on June 24.
The electoral roll revision continues to stir political tensions in Bihar, with opposition parties viewing it as a threat to fair democratic processes ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.
