Vote Chori, Electoral Roll Deletions And More: Controversies Dominate Headlines Ahead Of Bihar Assembly Polls

Ahead of Bihar elections, Opposition accused the Election Commission of voter deletions, data curbs, and EVM opacity, while the poll body defended its transparency. CEC Gyanesh Kumar announced poll dates, marking his first election.

Ever since the Bihar elections came into the spotlight, the Opposition parties of large-scale voters have consistently levelled a series of allegations, including deletions, curbing data access, withholding CCTV footage, and evading questions on the integrity of electronic voting machines (EVMs) against the Election Commission. However, the poll body has drawn a combative defence, which insists that its processes remain transparent, lawful, and politically neutral.

This is the first election since Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar assumed office, and today he announced the dates for the polls in Bihar.

Allegations Mount Over Voter Roll Deletions, EC Denies Claims

Opposition parties have accused the SIR of leading to the removal of lakhs of genuine voters, disproportionately affecting women, minorities, and migrant workers. The Election Commission, however, has strongly refuted these claims, stressing that no voter’s name can be deleted online by the public.

"Allegations made by Rahul Gandhi are incorrect and baseless. No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Rahul Gandhi. No deleting can take palce without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected person," the ECI said in a statement.

Oppn ‘vote chori’ campaign

The “vote chori” narrative has grown into a nationwide campaign, with Congress accusing the Election Commission of intentionally limiting access to digital voter rolls in machine-readable formats, thus hindering parties from checking deletions and duplications.

EVM And CCTV Controversies

The opposition, including Congress, RJD, and the Left, has questioned EVM reliability and vote-count transparency, alleging the EC’s refusal to share raw EVM data, battery logs, and full CCTV footage hinders independent verification. AS per Hindustan Times reports, the EC responded that recordings are legally retained and cannot be publicly released, citing voter privacy, especially for women, and the need to protect ballot secrecy and polling station security.

News is originally taken from: http://bit.ly/42Xnhca

Samachar App: watch the live latest news of India and the world, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Samachar App now to keep up with daily breaking news.  

Like and Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram