Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: RJD Leader Tejashwi Yadav Urges Opposition To Resist Voter Roll Revision, Warns Of 15% Disenfranchisement

Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday wrote to 35 opposition leaders including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, seeking their intervention to resist the SIR exercise in the strongest possible terms possible as it could ‘disenfranchise’ 12-15 percent of the state`s population.

Even as the Election Commission (EC) is close to completing the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, Tejashwi in his letter to the opposition leaders wrote, “The experiences of the Maharashtra assembly elections are still fresh in our memories. However, we are still waiting to receive a good-faith and substantive response from the ECI. Now, it is Bihar’s turn. This needs to be resisted in the strongest terms possible.”

“If we do not raise our voices and register our strong protest, the same will be carried out in other states as well. The constitution demands that we defend the republic. We should not be found wanting at this historic juncture,” he added.

Addressing opposition leaders, the RJD leader said, “I am writing to you with a deep sense of anguish and urgency. The farce and tragedy of the SIR going on in Bihar is shaking the very foundation of democracy through large-scale disenfranchisement. It is a clear indication of how the ‘independent institution’ of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is adamant on eroding public trust in the integrity of our electoral process.”

“Now, lakhs of voters, for no fault, are being disempowered and humiliated. According to the ECI press note dated July 16, 2025, around 4.5 percent of the population is already out in the names of ‘electors not found at their addresses’. This is in addition to the four percent who have ‘probably’ deceased, permanently shifted. Going by these numbers, journalists on the ground and political scientists who are closely observing the exercise peg the disenfranchisement at a whopping 12 to 15 percent,” he claimed.

“The timing of the SIR, as the Supreme Court also alluded to, is suspect. The ECI has not done itself any favours by announcing and carrying out the exercise in a haphazard and high-handed manner. They have not been transparent. They are making and breaking their rules on the fly. Worse, they are targeting anyone and everyone who is demanding transparency and accountability,” he added.