Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is leading a protest march of INDIA bloc MPs to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters today (August 11, 2025) against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged electoral malpractices.
MPs from Opposition parties in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are marching from Makar Dwar in Parliament to the ECI’s Nirvachan Sadan office, with the protest beginning at 11:30 AM and proceeding via Transport Bhawan. The ECI has granted the Congress Party an appointment for 12 noon. Later in the evening, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will host a dinner meeting with MPs to devise a joint strategy on the issue.
The protest has drawn attention from Delhi Police, who stated that no permission was sought for the march. Officials clarified that no formal application was received for the demonstration. The INDIA bloc has said the protest is aimed at highlighting “voter fraud” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and raising concerns about the SIR in poll-bound Bihar.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, speaking at a press conference, alleged that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) were filling out “fake forms” in one room and that the same voter’s name appeared at multiple polling locations. He said Rahul Gandhi had demanded electronic voter list data that could be scanned for duplicate entries. Singh also questioned the need for a rushed SIR, noting that a similar process in 2003 had taken two years in Bihar, compared to just one month now.
The allegations come days after Rahul Gandhi’s briefing in which he accused the Election Commission of serious lapses. On August 1, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju responded that the government was open to discussions on any matter as per parliamentary rules, but not on the SIR, as it is a routine process conducted by a constitutional body.
The INDIA bloc claims that all its MPs, except those from the BJP and NDA, joined the march to the Election Commission to formally lodge their protest.
