EC conducted 'surgical strike' of SIR on poll for change in Bihar: CPI(ML) Liberation

Nawada (Bihar), Aug 19 (PTI) CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Tuesday alleged that the Election Commission conducted a "surgical strike" of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls on an election for change in Bihar but said that every section has understood that a "conspiracy of vote chori" is being hatched in the name of the exercise.

Addressing a press conference along with Mahila Congress chief Alka Lamba here during the Voter Adhikar Yatra being led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Bhattacharya claimed that today, criminals rule Bihar and cited a recent video in which criminals entered a hospital in Patna and shot dead a person.

"This election is for change in Bihar, but the Election Commission (EC) conducted a surgical strike of SIR on it to cause disturbance. In this process, people's names started getting deleted and the public was told that only the names of infiltrators will be deleted," he said.

While there is not a single infiltrator in the list of 65 lakh people, people who were alive were declared dead and the names of the labourers who have gone out to earn money were also deleted from the voter list in the name of SIR, Bhattacharya said.

"Today, every section of Bihar has understood that a conspiracy of 'vote theft' is being hatched in the name of SIR," he said.

He said people's hopes have been attached to the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar.

"This election in Bihar will be an election of change. Last year, we did a 13-day padyatra from Nawada to Patna. Just before that, a Dalit colony in Nawada was set on fire and they were evicted from their land," he said.

"During the padyatra, we saw that there is a lot of resentment among the Dalits. Most of the incidents of Dalit oppression are in the Gaya district. Even today, the situation here is such that if the workers of Musahar caste ask for their wages, their hands are chopped off," he said.

The BJP-JDU government has been in power in Bihar for the last 20 years and big promises have been made but the situation here is worse, he said.

Unemployment, poverty and migration are at their peak due to the growing debt crisis, Bhattacharya said.

Lamba also launched a frontal attack on the Election Commission, saying as soon as the Voter Adhikar Yatra started, the BJP sent the chief election commissioner to hold a press conference, where the Election Commission itself got trapped.

"No matter how much these people try to scare Rahul Gandhi, he is not going to be scared," Lamba said.

"Rahul Gandhi has clearly said -- wherever the vote thieves are, we will find them; they will not be spared," she said.

"Rahul Gandhi did Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Now he is doing Voter Adhikar Yatra to save the right to vote in the country. From the road to Parliament, we have only one echo -- 'Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhorh'," Lamba said.

The Congress' simple demand is for the EC to make the electronic voter list public and hand over the CCTV footage of the polling booth to them, but the poll body is afraid of giving them the data, she alleged.

On Tuesday, the yatra began from Wazirganj in Gaya and entered Nawada later. It will conclude with a rally in Patna on September 1.

The yatra is being undertaken in a hybrid mode, on foot and by vehicle, as was Gandhi's Manipur to Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

It will also pass through Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Munger, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Purnea, Araria, Supaul, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Chhapra and Ara. PTI ASK KSS KSS