Patna, July 10 -- Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar was an extension of the "Maharashtra model" of rigging the polls in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led coalition. The Congress leader was taking part in the Bihar bandh supported by the Opposition to protest the Election Commission of India's controversial move. Addressing the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc workers during a protest march to the EC's office in Patna, Gandhi alleged: "Maharashtra assembly elections were rigged to favour the BJP and the NDA. They want to repeat it in Bihar, which we will not allow." The former Congress president has been targeting ECI since the November 2024 Maharashtra polls, alleging "bogus voters" were added in electoral rolls in the western state. The BJP-led Mahayuti swept the Maharashtra polls, just months after facing defeat in the state during the Lok Sabha polls. He claimed that SIR in Bihar was an extension of the "Maharashtra model" of fudging electoral rolls, adding it would "steal not just people's right to vote but their entire future." "They want to replicate the Maharashtra model elsewhere. This time they may try to delete the names of many voters. But they must know this is Bihar. People here can see through the designs," Gandhi said. Terming the SIR exercise a "mockery of democracy", he accused ECI, which he alleged comprised persons nominated by the BJP, of serving the ruling party rather than the people. Gandhi was accompanied by leaders of alliance partners, including Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of RJD, and Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the CPI(ML). Yadav alleged that EC has become a part of a political party, calling it a "Godi Aayog". "Today, the Bihar Bandh has been called to address how ECI has become 'Godi Aayog'. NDA is losing, so they are using the ECI. Preparations have been going on to remove the names of Bihar's poor people from the voter list," the RJD leader added. Echoing the sentiment, Bhattacharya described the ongoing SIR as "votebandi". "Voters whose names were not there in the 2003 voter list will have to prove that they are citizens. And the conditions that have been set by the EC make it very difficult for the people of Bihar. It's votebandi," the CPI(ML) leader said. The Bihar Bandh, supported by the state's opposition bloc, aimed at galvanising public sentiment against the NDA government and ECI ahead of the assembly polls, which are likely to be held in October-November. Meanwhile, the Bihar bandh evoked mixed response in the state. Supporters and workers of the opposition parties burnt tyres and blocked roads in Patna, while long-distance trains were stopped at multiple places. ADG (law and order) Pankaj Darad said all preventive measures were taken to maintain law and order. "There were no major untoward incidents." Reacting to the opposition's protest, the BJP lashed out at the INDIA bloc for holding a bandh in the state, with senior party leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioning whether the opposition parties were trying to pressure the judiciary by such tactics. "All these leaders have approached the Supreme Court, which is their right, and when the hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, why are they engaging in street politics today to exert pressure?" Prasad told reporters in Delhi. In a press release on Wednesday, ECI said that enumeration forms of nearly 57.48% of the total 78,969,844 existing electors in Bihar have been collected while 98% forms (77.1 million) have already been distributed in the first 15 days of the exercise with 16 more days left....