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Congress MP and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, along with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, on Wednesday led the 'Bihar Bandh' protest in Patna against the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to undertake the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections.
Several senior leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, including CPI General Secretary D Raja, CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar Congress President Rajesh Ram, Kanhaiya Kumar, and Sanjay Yadav also participated in the protest. Independent MP from Purnea, Pappu Yadav, joined the demonstrators at the Sachiwalay Halt railway station, raising slogans like "Chunav Aayog hosh mein aao" (Election Commission, come to your senses). As part of the protest, Congress workers blocked the railway track at Sachiwalay Halt station, demanding a rollback of the ECI's move. Speaking to reporters, NSUI national in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar said, "We are on the streets to protect democracy because it is said that if streets become silent, the parliament goes astray (Agar sadke suni ho jaayen to sansad awaara ho jati hai." Additionally, Sanjay Yadav, firing shots at ECI, said that the electoral rolls revision is "completely non-transparent and misleading." "Electoral rolls revision in Bihar by Election Commission is completely non-transparent and misleading. This is a way to snatch the right of people to vote. We are asking questions to the Election Commission, but answers will come from the BJP. It shows the Election Commission has become a unit of BJP," he said. An RJD worker protesting against the voter list revision said, "Under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, leaders and workers of Mahagathbandhan will protest against the Modi government and the Election Commission of India." Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India said that it is most likely that the exercise of the collection of Enumeration Forms will be completed well before the last day of collection. According to ECI, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar is progressing well, with 3,70,77,077 Enumeration Forms, which is 46.95 per cent of the total of 7,89,69,844 (nearly 7.90 crore) electors in Bihar, collected (at 6:00 PM) in the first 14 days since the issuance of SIR instructions on June 24. (ANI)
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