PM Modi's Secret Voter Wipeout? Congress Claims 23 Lakh Bihar Women Deleted

Congress party has charged the Election Commission with orchestrating a "massive fraud" by scrubbing nearly 23 lakh women's names from the state's voter rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive. The bulk of these deletions, the party claims, hit 59 assembly constituencies that saw razor-thin margins in the 2020 polls, raising explosive questions about electoral integrity and whether the women's votes in last year's Lok Sabha elections were "fraudulent" enough to crown the current government.

All India Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba unleashed the salvo at a fiery press conference at Congress headquarters Indira Bhawan, branding the deletions a blatant assault on women's democratic rights. "At the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the EC is engineering 'vote chori'—stealing ballots from the very women whose empowerment Modi loves to tout on the campaign trail," Lamba thundered. She spotlighted six districts—Gopalganj, Saran, Begusarai, Samastipur, Bhojpur, and Purnea—where the highest number of women's names were axed, collectively spanning around 60 seats. "In 2020, the INDIA bloc clinched 25 of these, while NDA grabbed 34 in nail-biters. Now, the EC's 'revision' conveniently targets these hotspots, tilting the scales before a single vote is cast."

Lamba's math paints a stark gender skew: Out of Bihar's roughly 3.5 crore women voters, 22.7 lakh have been purged—far outpacing the 15 lakh men removed. "These women won't cast ballots in the upcoming polls, a move we see as unconstitutional and a direct curb on their voices," she asserted. The Congress is firing back with a nationwide signature crusade, aiming to rally five crore supporters against this "conspiracy of last-minute additions and deletions." Lamba didn't mince words on the hypocrisy: "Modi funnels cash into women's Jan Dhan accounts to sway Bihar's vote, yet in cahoots with the EC, he erases 23 lakh of them from the rolls. Were their Lok Sabha votes fake? Did those 'ghost' ballots elect MPs who propped up his regime? We'll drag this plot into the light."

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The uproar clashes head-on with the Election Commission's upbeat spin. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, wrapping a Patna tour ahead of poll announcements, hailed SIR as a "purifying milestone" after 22 dormant years, trimming Bihar's total electors from 7.89 crore pre-revision to 7.42 crore in Tuesday's final roll. From the August 1 draft's 7.24 crore (which had already culled 65 lakh for deaths, migrations, and duplicates), 21.53 lakh new names were added, offset by 3.66 lakh more deletions—a net gain of 17.87 lakh. "No eligible voter will be sidelined, nor any ineligible retained," Kumar insisted, brushing off bias claims as "baseless." Supplementary tweaks could nudge the figure slightly during campaigning, but the EC vows ironclad transparency.

Opposition fury has been brewing since the draft leaks, with Congress and allies like RJD decrying SIR as a BJP-orchestrated purge to kneecap women-heavy rural blocs that fueled their 2020 upset. Bihar's 243-seat assembly, where NDA clings to a slim majority under Nitish Kumar's flip-flopping Janata Dal (United), is a tinderbox: The 2020 results hinged on micro-margins in those 59 seats, where women's turnout topped 60% and swung key victories for Tejashwi Yadav's RJD. Now, with polls eyed post-Chhath Puja (late October), the deletions could shave 5-7% off INDIA's edge in Seemanchal and Magadh regions, per party insiders crunching booth-level data.

This isn't isolated sabotage, Lamba argued—it's part of a pattern. Echoing gripes from Maharashtra's recent rolls, she tied it to Modi's "surgical strikes on democracy," where schemes like PM-KISAN dangle carrots while electoral tweaks wield the stick. Women's groups, from SEWA to the All India Democratic Women's Association, have mobilized, planning dharnas in Patna and door-to-door verifications. "Erasing women isn't just theft—it's erasure of half our story," tweeted RJD MP Misa Bharti, vowing legal challenges in the Supreme Court.

On the flip side, BJP spokespersons dismissed the claims as "desperate electioneering," pointing to SIR's tech-driven scrutiny—booth verifications, Aadhaar linkages, and door-to-door probes—that caught 10 lakh duplicates statewide. "Congress fears clean rolls because they thrive on bogus votes," sniped BJP's Manoj Tiwari, hinting at counter-allegations of migrant manipulations favoring opposition strongholds. As Bihar's 7.42 crore voters gear up—youth bulge at 28%, women at 48%—the EC's neutrality hangs by a thread. With announcements imminent this week, will this "purification" unearth fairness or foul play? Congress swears to fight fire with signatures and suits, betting Bihar's bahus (sisters) won't be silenced. The battle for ballots has just begun, and the women at its heart may well decide the dynasty's fate.

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