Patna, August 29: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Election Commission of grave irregularities in the draft electoral rolls in Bihar, claiming that in one case “an entire village” had been shown as residing in a single house.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who is currently leading the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ across the state, shared a social media post from the Congress party pointing to alleged discrepancies in Gaya district. “See the magic of EC. An entire village has settled down in one house,” Gandhi remarked in his post.
According to the Congress, in Nidani village under the Barachatti Assembly segment of Gaya, all 947 voters of one booth had been listed as residents of “house number six.” The party alleged this was symptomatic of widespread manipulation. “This is about just one village. We can only imagine the scale of irregularities on the state and national level,” the party wrote on X.
The charge prompted a clarification from the office of the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer, which was issued through the X handle of the District Magistrate of Gaya. The DM explained that notional house numbers are used in rural areas or slum clusters where dwellings have no official serial numbers. “This is done to make the process of enlisting voters easier,” the clarification stated.
To counter the allegation, the DM’s office also shared video clips purportedly of Nidani residents, who said they were satisfied with the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls but expressed displeasure over what they described as “attempts to defame the area.”
The controversy comes as Rahul Gandhi continues his campaign focused on voter rights, raising fresh friction between the Congress and the Election Commission in the run-up to the next round of polls.
