'Fight for voting rights': Rahul–Tejashwi's battle cry for Bihar assembly elections
The Mahagathbandhan on Sunday launched its first major public mobilisation ahead of the Bihar assembly elections, kicking off its Voter Adhikar Yatra from the historic region of Sasaram. The 17-day march will cover more than 20 districts, with opposition leaders framing the elections as a fight to protect the constitutional right of voting.
Addressing a charged gathering, by his usual presentation of the red book of the Constitution, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi declared, “This is not just an election—it is a fight to save the Constitution. Across India, the RSS and BJP are trying to erase the very foundation of our democracy. But we will not let that happen.”
Rahul alleged that electoral manipulation had become the BJP’s new tool to defeat the opposition. Citing Maharashtra, he pointed out that the INDIA bloc had won the Lok Sabha polls, but within four months, the BJP-led alliance swept the Assembly elections. “After the Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission magically added one crore new voters,” he claimed.
According to him, the bloc’s vote share did not decline, yet all of these “new” votes went to the BJP, tipping the scales. “In one assembly seat alone, one lakh votes were stolen in Karnataka,” Rahul alleged, accusing the Election Commission of refusing to share videography or records despite repeated complaints.
RJD leader and Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, struck a similar chord by first calling Rahul Gandhi his big brother and subsequently accusing the BJP of orchestrating “vote theft” with the backing of institutions.
“The Constitution gives every Indian—whether rich or poor, big or small—the equal right to vote. But what the BJP cannot do directly, it is pushing the Election Commission to do on its behalf,” he said.
He added that despite health warnings, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had chosen to attend rallies. “For you, the people of Bihar, Lalu ji has come—ignoring all warnings,” he said.
Both leaders insisted that the Voter Adhikar Yatra is not merely a campaign, but a resistance movement. “This is not just theft—it is dacoity. Tejashwi-Rahul, the Mahagathbandhan, will not let this happen. We will not only protect your rights, we will protect your very existence,” Tejashwi said.
The party leaders of the Mahagathbandhan believe that there is an undercurrent of anti-incumbency among voters, which may only favour the Mahagathbandhan if they work hard and reach out to the voters and make them understand what vote theft is.
The party has therefore kept loudspeakers on during its rallies, constantly announcing how the vote theft has happened and how it could take away their rights of not only voting but of growth and progress.
Pratap Singh, who had travelled from Buxar to attend the public gathering, said that a few in his village who once voted for the BJP now believe it is time to shift their support to the Mahagathbandhan. He also believes that if the cadre works on a war footing to make illiterate people understand what the BJP-led EC has done, more could vote for the Congress-RJD-led bloc.
India