RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav are leading a rally against the Election Commission of India's (ECI) special intensive revision (SIR) exercise ahead of the Bihar election.
Here's your 10-point cheatsheet to this story
- The Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan) in Bihar is holding the march from the Income Tax Roundabout to the ECI's office near the assembly building in Patna at 10 am.
- This would be the Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's seventh visit to Bihar in the last five months. The assembly election is just a few months away.
- Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Left parties are participating in the statewide protest. They have alleged the ECI's voter list revision process is biased and anti-people.
- "This is a direct attack on the voting rights of the poor, migrants, and deprived sections," said Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram. He said the people of Bihar will come out in thousands to register their protest on the streets of Patna today.
- Mr Gandhi, meanwhile, may visit the family of businessman Gopal Khemka, who was shot dead outside his house near Patna's Gandhi Maidan on July 4. The murder has triggered a political uproar, with the Opposition targeting the state government over law and order.
- The ECI began the special intensive revision in Bihar on June 24, making it mandatory for voters to fill out forms and submit any of 11 specified documents as identity proof.
- The Grand Alliance, including the Congress and the RJD, have alleged the SIR process could deprive migrants, Dalits, Mahadalits, and poor voters of their rights. They have called the ECI's move a "conspiracy to block votes" ahead of the Bihar assembly election.
- Slamming the RJD-Congress alliance for politicising the electoral roll revision process, BJP leader and MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Opposition's call for the statewide 'chakka jam' will only heighten tension at a time when the state needs peace.
- "It is their right. Action is being taken, the police are doing their job. I will only say that if they organise such programmes for their politics, it also increases tension. Bihar needs peace right now. In the upcoming elections, everything will become clear as day," Mr Prasad said.
- Petitions challenging the SIR exercise have been filed in the Supreme Court. The matter is scheduled to be heard on July 10. The petitions were filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam.
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