A day before the protest, the Congress party launched an online campaign against what it calls “vote chori” (vote theft) in Bihar. The campaign is linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, which the INDIA bloc says is being used to cheat voters.

On Monday (August 11, 2025), around 300 Members of Parliament from the INDIA bloc are expected to join a march to the Election Commission (EC) headquarters in Delhi. The aim is to raise concerns over alleged electoral fraud and to demand full transparency from the EC.

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the march is meant to demand a voter list that can be checked by the public. He stated, “Vote Chori is an attack on the foundational idea of ‘one man, one vote’. A clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections. Our demand from the EC is clear – be transparent and release digital voter rolls so that people and parties can audit them.”

The INDIA bloc says the SIR process in Bihar is designed to remove certain groups of voters from the list. The Delhi Police has said no official permission was taken for the march. Because of this, extra security measures, including barricades along the route from Parliament House to the EC office, have been put in place.

Rahul Gandhi has accused the ruling BJP and the EC of working together to change voter lists. At a recent press conference, he said they committed “a huge criminal fraud” and called it “a crime against the Constitution.” He said these claims are backed by voting pattern studies in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency, where over 1 lakh votes were allegedly fake.

Congress has also pointed to problems in Karnataka, saying there were 11,965 duplicate voters, 40,009 voters with fake or wrong addresses, and thousands more wrongly registered. Gandhi said these mistakes helped the BJP win past elections.

The Haryana Chief Electoral Officer has asked Rahul Gandhi to provide proof for his claims about electoral roll problems in the 2024 state polls. The Election Commission has also written to Gandhi, asking him to submit documents that prove his allegations, including cases of multiple voting, such as that of voter Shakun Rani.

The INDIA bloc says their protest and online campaign will continue until the EC takes action and makes voter lists fully open for public checking.

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