Patna, September 25, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Bihar Congress and RJD staged separate protests in Patna on Friday over issues related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with police using water cannons to stop Congress protesters from proceeding towards the State Election Commission office.
The Congress protest march was organised from R-Block to the State Election Commission office, with a large number of party leaders and workers raising slogans against the Election Commission and demanding the resignation and removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Rajesh Ram said the protest was linked to questions raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi regarding the electoral process and voter lists.
“The protest against the Election Commission stems from the fact that Rahul Gandhi was consistently exposing them… today it has been proven that governments in Bihar, Haryana, and Maharashtra were formed through vote theft. The Election Commission has not yet responded to Rahul Gandhi,” Ram said.
The allegations reflect the Congress party’s political position and have not been established as facts by the Election Commission or a court.
Tension was reported during the demonstration as protesters and police came face-to-face. Some Congress workers climbed barricades while carrying an effigy of the CEC, following which a commotion broke out and police used water cannons to disperse the protesters.
Congress leaders and workers also demanded the removal and arrest of Gyanesh Kumar during the demonstration.
Purnea MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav also criticised the Election Commission amid the wider protests by Opposition parties.
“They have committed an injustice against 13 crore people in Bengal, Bihar, and Assam. How can they simply be allowed to get away with it?” Yadav said.
The RJD, a key constituent of the Mahagathbandhan, also staged a demonstration in Patna, with its leaders and workers raising questions over the functioning of the Election Commission, particularly regarding the revision of electoral rolls and the electoral process.
The protests are part of a broader Opposition campaign questioning the Election Commission’s handling of voter lists and the SIR exercise.
The demonstrations also come amid a report by a national English daily alleging that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months concerning decisions and procedures of the poll panel.
According to the report, the objections covered issues including voter registration and deletion, restoration of names, changes to Form 6, new voters and management of electoral-roll data. It also reported that some objections related to decisions the two commissioners said had been taken without their knowledge or approval.
The report further cited concerns over centralisation of electoral-roll database controls and aspects of the SIR process.
The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that the reported objections indicate a lack of consensus within the three-member poll panel. The Commission has said that all decisions, including those related to the SIR, had the approval of all three Election Commissioners and were taken unanimously.
The poll panel has also maintained that highlighting individual internal notes without considering the broader body of decisions and approvals presents only one part of its decision-making process.
The controversy over the functioning of the Election Commission and the revision of electoral rolls continues, with Opposition parties demanding greater accountability while the poll panel maintains that its decisions have followed established procedures.
FOLLOW NOW
