After the surprise assembly losses in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra, Congress is cautiously treading its way in Bihar. The party has increased its operations at the grassroots and almost doubled its booth-level agents to keep a check on the Special Intensive Revision exercise of the Election Commission of India.
The grand old party has repeatedly alleged that the ECI is playing into the hands of the ruling dispensation BJP, and for the first time, the party is closely scrutinising the on-ground operations of the ECI. In addition, the party’s grassroots workers are also helping underprivileged groups to follow the election body’s guidelines and ensure that their names get listed in the new electoral rolls.
"We have strengthened the organisational base by expanding booth-level committees," Congress spokesperson Gyan Ranjan says, "and by introducing more booth-level agents, we have created a new system of strength which will lay a bigger ground to serve people," Ranjan added that the expansion of Congress’s grassroots will assist the people to ensure that they get listed in the electoral rolls.
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He says, “BJP is attacking the Constitution. I was in Bihar and just like Maharashtra, they are trying to hijack the election. Election Commission has started a… pic.twitter.com/ZXlEDASV5X
As the less developed communities are seen to have less understanding of intricate governmental processes and a weak approach towards preserving important documents, they are likely to be the worst hit by the new revision plan.
Therefore, Ranjan claims the marginalised sections of society are anxious about the new exercise of Special Intensive Revision, and therefore, Congress is paying close attention to help the most affected people in Bihar.
The Congress, which is counting on these groups for votes and also trying to break away a chunk of Economically Backward Castes (EBCs), mostly loyal to Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal United (JDU), has almost doubled its booth-level agents' presence from 8,586 to 16,500, which is a significant 92.17% jump.
According to the Election Commission data, between June 25 (when the SIR was announced) and July 2, the total booth-level agents across parties in the state rose by 13%, from 1,38,680 to 1,56,625. The opposition INDIA bloc in Bihar deployed an additional 17.51% booth-level agents, boosting their total from 56,038 to 65,853.
The NDA bloc, however, saw a comparatively lesser surge of 10.86%. But their total booth-level agents count still remains higher, rising from 80,083 to 88,781.
