RJD leader and Bihar’s Leader of Opposition, Tejashwi Yadav, launched scathing criticism at the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday during a press conference held as part of the ongoing Voter Adhikar Yatra. He charged the EC with being effectively reduced to a "Godi Aayog" - a term mocking it as a lapdog agency, working overtly in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), thereby undermining its own credibility.
“The Election Commission has become 'Godi Aayog' and is operating like a cell of the BJP. Rahul Gandhi and I embarked on this Yatra to safeguard democracy, the Constitution, and the right to vote” Tejashwi said while adding that even at the grassroots level, the EC has already lost public trust.
Drawing attention to alleged malpractices during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Yadav claimed that approximately 50 names per polling booth had been removed and marked as “deceased,” despite evidence submitted to the Supreme Court, that many of those individuals were alive.
The Voter Adhikar Yatra, a campaign co-led by Tejashwi and Rahul Gandhi, aimed at mobilizing public concern over alleged electoral manipulation through systematic voter list revisions. Early in August Rahul Gandhi held a special press briefing where he unveiled Election Commission (EC) data and claimed them as proof of “vote theft”. Ever since EC announced SIR for Bihar, opposition parties have come out questioning the intent of launching an expansive exercise, so close to the polls in the state. ECI has maintained that they are making the voter list transparent. Over 65 lakh names have been deleted from the SIR draft so far, thereby making it incumbent on deleted people to prove their credentials. SIR has also been challenged before the Supreme Court. While the Apex Court didn’t stall the exercise but had ensured changes in procedure - least being mandating ECI to accept ‘Aadhaar’ card as an identity proof, something ECI was reluctant to do.
Tejashwi’s remarks echo longstanding opposition grievances about EC’s perceived neutrality, particularly in the context of the SIR process with accusations ranging from vote manipulation to deliberate exclusion of marginalized voters.
Rahul Gandhi also raised similar concerns at the same press conference characterising the SIR as an institutionalized mechanism for “vote theft” and alleging a partnership between the Election Commission and the BJP to manipulate election outcomes. These allegations unfold amid growing political tension ahead of the 2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections, where control over electoral rolls has become a flashpoint in the broader battle over electoral integrity.
