Patna is set to see a fresh round of street-level political activity from Saturday as the Bihar Congress launches a phased agitation campaign over voter rights, anchored on its demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The state unit announced that the campaign will run in stages through November 25, combining block-level marches, village meetings and a proposed march to Delhi on Constitution Day.
The announcement came after a review meeting at the party headquarters, Sadaqat Ashram, where state president Rajesh Ram and Bihar Congress in-charge Krishna Allavaru met district presidents and office-bearers to take stock of the organisation and finalise the agitation plan. With Bihar politics in a state of churn after last year’s assembly polls, the Congress is attempting to keep the spotlight on electoral roll grievances and the functioning of the Election Commission of India.
The phased agitation plan
The party has divided the campaign into clear phases so that workers at every level have a defined task:
- October 10 to 20: Marches and public outreach programmes at block headquarters across the state, focused on voters’ rights and complaints about names missing from electoral rolls.
- October 25 to November 25: ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ meetings and theme-based chaupals at district, block and village levels, where voters who say their names were deleted from the rolls will be invited to share their accounts.
- November 26: A proposed ‘Delhi Chalo’ programme on Constitution Day, with thousands of Bihar Congress workers expected to travel to the national capital.
At the review meeting, Allavaru called for strengthening the organisation at the booth, panchayat and block levels, and urged district presidents to maintain regular communication with the public. The leadership stressed that the campaign should reach voters directly instead of remaining a headquarters-level exercise.
What sparked the protest
At the heart of the agitation is the allegation that names of genuine voters were deleted from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, exercise. The Bihar Congress says affected voters will be invited to the party’s meetings so their grievances come into the open. Rajesh Ram said the campaign would raise public awareness about alleged exclusions from voter lists and interact with citizens who claim to have been wrongfully removed.
Running parallel to the voter rights messaging is the explicit demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Party leaders argue that his continuation in office is incompatible with credible electoral administration, pointing to what they describe as a pattern of complaints about voter roll irregularities. The choice of Constitution Day for the final phase is deliberate symbolism: the party wants the dispute framed as a constitutional concern rather than a mere administrative tangle.
The INDIA bloc’s parallel pressure
The Congress agitation follows closely on a march led by RJD working president and Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, after which INDIA bloc parties submitted a memorandum to the Bihar Governor. In it, they demanded that the 2025 assembly polls be declared invalid, that fresh elections be held, that the SIR be halted, and that Gyanesh Kumar be removed from office.
Yadav accused the Election Commission of helping the BJP win through what he called a ‘fake election’ and alleged that the CEC’s appointment was meant to facilitate ‘vote theft’. The BJP-led NDA, which won the assembly polls, has rejected these charges, and the Election Commission has consistently maintained that the revision exercise was conducted as per the rules.
Meanwhile, the NDA itself is managing internal friction. In the Bihar Legislative Council elections, three Rashtriya Lok Morcha MLAs backed an independent candidate against the alliance’s official nominee in the Saran Teachers’ constituency, even as RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha denied any rebellion and reaffirmed support for the NDA. The episode has given the opposition fresh ammunition to question the ruling alliance’s cohesion.
Why this matters now
With the next round of electoral contests approaching in Bihar, control over the narrative on election fairness has become a key political battleground. The opposition’s strategy is to keep the Election Commission’s conduct under continuous public scrutiny, while the ruling alliance wants the debate to move to governance and development.
How far the Congress agitation travels will depend on two things: whether it draws genuine participation from affected voters at the block level, and whether the party can sustain the momentum from the October marches all the way to the November 26 Delhi programme. Past agitations in the state have often fizzled after the initial phase, which is why the party leadership is pressing workers to build organisation at the grassroots level alongside the protests.
For now, the stage is set for a noisy autumn in Bihar politics, with voter rolls, the Election Commission and the fate of deleted names dominating the political conversation.
FAQs
What is the Bihar Congress agitating for?
The party wants the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and a resolution of complaints about names of genuine voters being deleted from electoral rolls.
How long will the agitation run?
The phased campaign runs from October 10 to November 25, ending with a proposed ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on Constitution Day, November 26.
What is the SIR exercise?
The Special Intensive Revision is the Election Commission’s exercise to update and clean electoral rolls. The opposition alleges genuine voters were wrongly deleted during it.
What did the INDIA bloc demand in its memorandum?
The bloc demanded that the 2025 Bihar assembly polls be declared invalid, fresh elections held, the SIR halted, and the CEC removed. These demands have not been accepted.
Who attended the Congress review meeting?
State president Rajesh Ram and Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru presided, with district presidents, office-bearers, state treasurer Jitendra Gupta and several MLAs participating.
The Informeia Desk will continue tracking this developing story.
