The high-stakes Bihar Assembly elections have been overshadowed by two major controversies involving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): allegations of prominent party figures casting votes in both Delhi and Bihar, and an aggressive, state-subsidised push to mobilize migrant workers through special travel arrangements. These events have ignited a political firestorm, bringing the fairness of the electoral process and the role of the Central Election Commission (CEC) into sharp focus.
The Double-Voting Crisis: 'One
Man, Multiple Votes'?
The most explosive charge
centres on allegations of 'vote chori', where BJP leaders, purportedly
registered in multiple states, exercised their franchise in two different
assembly polls.
(Photo Credit: @Saurabh_MLAgk)
The opposition, led by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress, presented photographic and digital evidence claiming that RSS ideologue and former BJP MP Rakesh Sinha, along with BJP Delhi Purvanchal Morcha president Santosh Ojha and other party functionaries, voted in the Delhi Assembly elections in February and subsequently in the Bihar polls in November.
AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned how the Election Commission’s systems, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) aimed at cleaning up rolls, could permit such discrepancies. The allegations, if proven, directly violate the constitutional principle of "one person, one vote," opening up a serious debate about the integrity of the national voter database.
Opposition Leaders Launch a
Coordinated Attack
The reaction from top
opposition leaders has been swift and severe, extending the criticism beyond
individual acts to the systematic manipulation of the electoral process itself.
Congress Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, intensified his critique,
connecting the Bihar situation to what he calls a broader pattern of 'wholesale
chori' across states like Haryana and Chhattisgarh. Speaking at a rally in
Banka, Gandhi declared that the BJP was indulging in "vote chori" and
that the Election Commission was acting in collusion with the ruling
establishment.
"Narendra Modi ji, Amit
Shah ji and the EC are attacking the Constitution together," Gandhi
alleged, claiming that the pattern of fake votes and duplicates witnessed in
previous state elections was being replicated in Bihar. He asserted that the
Congress possesses "100 per cent proof" of these electoral
irregularities and vowed to continue raising the issue to protect democracy.
Leaders of the Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD) and the DMK have echoed these sentiments, pointing to the
earlier controversy surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of
electoral rolls in Bihar, which they alleged was designed to wrongfully delete
millions of voters - particularly from poor, Dalit, and minority communities - who
were perceived as anti-BJP, while neglecting to remove duplicate or fake
entries.
BJP Defence and the CEC’s
Position
In response to the
double-voting accusations, the BJP and the accused leaders offered an
immediate, yet contested, defence. Rakesh Sinha dismissed the claims as
"baseless" and politically motivated, stating publicly that he had
formally transferred his voter registration from Delhi to his ancestral village
in Begusarai, Bihar, and threatened legal action for defamation against the
opposition. The BJP officially labelled the entire charge as a desperate
attempt by the opposition to discredit the electoral outcome.
The Central Election
Commission (CEC) has found itself squarely in the crosshairs of the
political conflict. While the CEC has not yet issued a specific public
statement or announced a formal enquiry into the double-voting allegations
against the named BJP leaders, its institutional conduct remains highly
scrutinised.
The opposition's persistent
charges - including that the EC had discontinued its de-duplication software
which could have flagged such dual registrations - put the regulatory body on
the defensive. Furthermore, the EC’s previous handling of the SIR in Bihar,
which required intervention from the Supreme Court to mandate transparency
regarding the deletion of millions of voters, has eroded public trust. The CEC’s
measured silence on the current double-voting claims is being interpreted by
critics as an abdication of its core duty to ensure free and fair polls, adding
fuel to the narrative of institutional compromise.
The Migrant Mobilization
Gambit
Beyond voter registration
concerns, the BJP’s aggressive outreach to the massive Bihari migrant worker
population, particularly in industrial hubs like Delhi-NCR, Gujarat, and
Maharashtra, has been widely discussed.
The strategy included running special trains and facilitating travel back to Bihar to ensure a high voter turnout among this crucial demographic. While providing travel assistance to voters is not inherently illegal, the alleged arrangement of free tickets and food, as claimed by some sources and the opposition, blurs the line between legitimate political outreach and inducement.
The BJP organised numerous
'Bihar Diwas' events across the country, compiling databases of migrant voters
and setting up dedicated outreach teams. This highly coordinated effort, which
the party views as a necessary mobilization of its support base, is being
scrutinised by the opposition as an unfair use of state machinery and resources
to influence voter choice - a potential breach of the Model Code of Conduct if
direct, unmonitored financial or material inducements (like free tickets) were
provided by the party.
In conclusion, the Bihar
Assembly elections are currently grappling with fundamental questions of
democratic integrity. The dual controversies - the double-voting allegations
pointing to possible systemic electoral fraud, and the use of politicised
migrant mobilization - have shifted the electoral conversation from policy and
development to the foundational health of India's democracy and the perceived
impartiality of the Election Commission.
- Abhijit
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