Responding to CPI(ML)’s statewide call, protest demonstrations were held across districts and blocks in Bihar on 5 July 2025 against the ongoing Special Voter Revision Drive. The party observed the day as a statewide protest against what it termed a conspiracy to disenfranchise the poor. Demonstrations, sit-ins and protest marches were organised at more than 100 block headquarters including the capital Patna. Protesters alleged that under the guise of voter list revision, there is a planned attempt to remove the names of the poor, workers, youth, women and minorities from the electoral rolls.
In Patna, a massive protest march began from GPO Golambar and proceeded through Station Road to Buddha Smriti Park where a public meeting was held. The rally was addressed by CPI(ML) Politburo member Comrade Meena Tiwari, MLC Shashi Yadav, leader of the legislative group Comrade Mahboob Alam, Phulwari MLA Gopal Ravidas, senior leader Saroj Chaubey, AIPF convenor Kamlesh Sharma, Samta Rai and Vandana Prabha. The protest meeting was conducted by Comrade Ranvijay Kumar.
Speakers termed the drive as an attack on voting rights of the poor. They said that the documents being demanded are not available with most poor, working class and migrant populations. In flood-affected regions of North Bihar, people are already facing severe hardship. Expecting them to furnish papers under such conditions is unjust.
Leaders pointed out that while the Election Commission had once made Aadhaar mandatory for voter ID linking, it is now refusing to accept Aadhaar as valid proof. Rejection of documents like MGNREGA job cards, muster rolls and caste certificates is a deliberate attempt to exclude large sections of rural poor. Out of the eleven documents prescribed by the commission, three are not even applicable in Bihar. This raises the question about whose agenda the Election Commission is working to implement.
The leaders launched a scathing attack on the NDA government. They asked why BJP and JD(U) are supporting such an anti-people process. Why are leaders like Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan, who claim to represent Dalits, silent when voting rights of the most marginalised are under attack.
Till now, only 7 percent of the voters in Bihar have been able to fill the required forms. At this pace, crores of voters will be left out of the list and their names deleted.
The party demanded that this entire process be withdrawn immediately and that the upcoming assembly elections be conducted on the basis of the existing voter list. CPI(ML) has warned that if the Election Commission does not roll back this decision, a stronger people's movement will be launched.
Apart from Patna, large protests were reported in Sasaram, Samastipur (Pusa, Tajpur, Vibhutipur), Vaishali (Lalganj, Bhagwanpur), Bhojpur (Ara town, Purvi Nawada, Tarari), five blocks of Nawada, Siwan, Nalanda, East Champaran, Daudnagar, Darbhanga (Hayaghat, Baheri, Hanumangarh, Bahadurpur), Biharsharif, Rupauli, Purnea, Begusarai, Gaya, Sirdala and Phulwarisharif.
July 9 General Strike – Bihar Shutdown
As part of the All India General Strike on July 9, the INDIA alliance and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation will organise a statewide bandh and chakka jam (road blockade) across Bihar. The action is being taken in protest against the mass disenfranchisement of the poor and marginalised sections in the state.
In Patna, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) will be gheraoed as part of the protest. The parties have called upon every citizen to take to the streets and join the struggle to defend the fundamental right to vote.
