'Is Election Commission God?': Pappu Yadav's 'do-or-die battle' call as roll revision row flares; links poll body to RSS

NEW DELHI: Pappu Yadav, who is a Congress-leaning Independent Lok Sabha MP, made a call for the "do-or-die battle" over the Election Commission of India's (ECI) move to revise the electoral roll as part of its special intensive revision (SIR) ahead of the Bihar assembly elections.Labelling the poll body as "office of the RSS," the Purnia MP asked if the "Election Commission was God?"Pappu Yadav, who is a six-time MP, said he would lay his life for "the identity of Bihar and Bihari"."The commission is precisely the office of the RSS and should be stopped. The people are ready to end anything that threatens constitutional responsibility. Talks have been held with the Congress incharge regarding this... Is the Election Commission God?... There will be a battle across the state. And for the identity of Bihar and Bihari, if we have to sacrifice our lives, then we will do it," Pappu Yadav told news agency ANI.Earlier in the day, Congress alleged that the poll body's special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar was a "sinister exercise" to deprive lakhs of voters of their franchise and a clear effort to "destroy" the electoral system in the state.In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge organisation, K C Venugopal, said, "This government specialises in giving people hell. The SIR is a sinister exercise to deprive lakhs of voters of their franchise.""The unnecessary haste, and their absolute refusal to address genuine concerns raised by the Opposition, points to this being a clear effort to destroy the electoral system in Bihar," he said."We will not let this go through. They must halt this ridiculous exercise immediately," Venugopal said.On Wednesday, leaders of several INDIA bloc parties met the EC over the SIR issue and raised concerns over its timing, alleging that over two crore voters of the state may be disenfranchised by this mammoth exercise being done just ahead of assembly elections.The Election Commission on Thursday said it has decoded the entire exercise to a group of opposition parties to assuage their fears.While the EC said that the revision, happening after 22 years, is in line with the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, opposition parties claim the timing is suspiciously close to the assembly polls and could "skew the voter base".The opposition has maintained that a revision this close to elections casts doubt on the EC's intentions. However, contrary to their protests, opposition parties have gone all in. The RJD has deployed 47,143 BLAs, second only to BJP's 51,964. Congress has appointed 8,586, while Left outfits like CPI(ML), CPM, and CPI have sent in their own agents. On the NDA side, JDU, LJP, and RLSP have mobilised more than 30,000 BLAs in total.ALSO READ: ECI lists 11 documents for voter roll update, Aadhaar not included; check what's required