Congress leader Pawan Khera has levelled serious allegations of voter manipulation in the ongoing Bihar Assembly elections, claiming that the names of several long-time voters have been deleted from the electoral rolls ahead of the first phase of polling. The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) of working together to influence the outcome of the elections.
Khera, addressing reporters, said that the party has received several complaints from its local workers and voters across different constituencies in Bihar. According to him, many individuals who have been voting for years found their names missing from the electoral list when they arrived at polling stations on November 6. He further alleged that the same pattern was seen earlier in Haryana, where the Congress had raised similar concerns about large-scale irregularities in the voter list.
“We have reports that names of voters, who have been part of the electoral process for generations, have suddenly disappeared. This is not a coincidence. What happened in Haryana is being repeated in Bihar. With the help of the Election Commission, votes were stolen there, and now the same thing is happening again,” Khera said. He described the situation as a deliberate attempt to silence the voices of genuine voters and claimed that the first phase of polling was marred by irregularities. 
Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also raised similar allegations while addressing an election rally in Bhagalpur. Gandhi said that “vote theft” had become a tool for the ruling establishment to retain power and alleged that the BJP was using its influence over institutions to manipulate the democratic process. He pointed out that in Haryana, more than 25 lakh fake voters were allegedly added to the rolls, which, according to him, changed the outcome of the elections in several constituencies.
