Patna: In a bombshell accusation that could shake the foundations of Bihar’s upcoming Assembly elections, the Congress party has charged the Election Commission of India (ECI) with orchestrating a “large-scale fraud” by purging nearly 23 lakh women’s names from the voter rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The move, they claim, targets constituencies where the 2020 polls saw razor-thin margins, tilting the scale in favour of the ruling NDA.
All India Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba, leading the charge, alleged that the deletions were executed at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Lamba fumed, accusing the SIR process of being a blatant ploy to suppress female votes, a demographic that has increasingly backed Opposition alliances.
Only weeks before Bihar’s high-stakes polls, where the state’s 243 seats are at stake, the controversy erupts. Congress sources highlighted that the deletions disproportionately hit battleground areas, where even a few thousand votes decided fates in 2020. Lamba demanded an immediate probe, urging the ECI to restore the names and ensure transparency, warning that such “manipulation” undermines democracy’s core.
The ECI has yet to respond, but the claim has ignited a firestorm on social media and among allies like the RJD. As Bihar braces for a fiercely contested battle — potentially in one or two phases post-Chhath Puja — this scandal threatens to dominate headlines, raising urgent questions about electoral integrity in India’s heartland.
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