Chowkidar Chor To Vote Chori: Can Rahul Gandhi Steal The High-Stakes Bihar Show With EC Campaign? | Politics News

Last Updated:August 10, 2025, 16:33 IST

Bihar poll results will show success of campaign. If the Congress+RJD lose, it will be seen as a failure of yet another campaign by Gandhi, just like Rafael & Chowkidar Chor Hai

Congress leader and LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi addresses the party’s ‘Vote Adhikar Rally’, in Bengaluru, on Friday. (PTI)

Rahul Gandhi is on a mission – it is to shake the confidence of people in the electoral system. But will his stir against the Election Commission (EC) end like his ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ campaign?

The story goes back to the results of Maharashtra and Haryana. As the win for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became clear, many in the Congress were startled, especially those close to Gandhi. They were convinced something was fishy.

Gandhi was convinced that the loss was not Congress’s fault but it was forced by the BJP and EC working in tandem. And that’s when the idea of Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts (EAGLE) came up with its focus on working of the EC and polls.

Sources say the entire campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), ‘vote choro’ is being monitored and micromanaged by Gandhi personally.

He has told his party colleagues to ensure all push this campaign, because if there is poll irregularity “no matter how hard we work we will never win”.

INDIA bloc, TMC & #votechori

Gandhi has taken many initiatives. One, personally reaching out to the once fragmented Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc leaders.

The big success was to get the Trinamool Congress, which has been miffed with the Congress for multiple reasons, on board. In fact, sources say the Congress appointed a TMC chief Mamata Banerjee-pliant Congress leader Subhankar Sarkar as the Bengal Congress chief to placate the TMC. So when he picked up the phone, and spoke to Abhishek Banerjee and asked to come together on the SIR issue, it was not tough to do so as even the TMC is fighting a campaign against the BJP and EC ahead of state polls in 2026.

It was after a long time that the TMC attended a get-together hosted by the Congress.

Not just stopping at this, Gandhi also asked the top leaders to ensure that all party leaders sink their differences to fight together on the SIR and #votechori campaign. It was because of Gandhi’s insistence that Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari were reached out to – and lo and behold, both stood firmly with the party on the EC issue.

‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’

But Gandhi is not stopping at this. He has launched an online people’s campaign asking them either to click on a link or give a missed call. This is to ensure that more and more people support him.

This will be followed by a kind of Bharat Jodo Yatra called ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram in Bihar to “wake up” people to what he calls the “tyranny of the EC”. This yatra will last for about 15 days, culminating in a big INDIA bloc rally in Patna.

Sasaram is an interesting choice to begin as it was once the kingdom of Raja Harishchandra who had forsaken his kingdom for his principles, a narrative Gandhi wants to push about himself.

But is Gandhi putting all his eggs in one basket? Is it a risk worth taking? Because the result of the risk will be the Bihar poll results. If the Congress + RJD lose, it will be seen as a failure of yet another campaign by Gandhi, just like like Rafael and ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’.

It’s a litmus test moment for Rahul Gandhi once again.

Pallavi Ghosh

Pallavi Ghosh has covered politics and Parliament for 15 years, and has reported extensively on Congress, UPA-I and UPA-II, and has now included the Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog in her reportage. She has als…Read More

Pallavi Ghosh has covered politics and Parliament for 15 years, and has reported extensively on Congress, UPA-I and UPA-II, and has now included the Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog in her reportage. She has als… Read More

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