March marking culmination of 'Vote Adhikar Yatra' begins in Bihar

The 'Gandhi se Ambedkar' march marking the culmination of Congress' 'Vote Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar began from Patna's iconic Gandhi Maidan on Monday.

The Congress' 14-day, 1,300-km-long 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' will conclude in Bihar's capital Patna on Monday, with several INDIA bloc leaders joining Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, in a procession marking the culmination of the political programme that gained significance ahead of the assembly polls in the state.

Among those scheduled to participate in the 'Gandhi se Ambedkar' march are Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI general secretary D Raja, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, NCP working president Supriya Sule, and TMC leaders Yusuf Pathan and Lalitesh Tripathi.

"The massive 'Gandhi se Ambedkar' procession will start at 11.15 am from the historic Gandhi Maidan, where floral tributes will be offered at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. After that, the procession will pass through S P Verma Road, Dak Bunglow Crossing, Kotwali Thana, Nehru Patah, Income Tax Roundabout, before reaching the statue of B R Ambedkar near Patna High Court.

"Senior opposition INDIA bloc leaders will pay tributes at the statue of B R Ambedkar before addressing a public gathering," Bihar Congress media department head Rajesh Rathod told reporters.

Patna is decked with posters of opposition parties welcoming the leaders from across the country.

Colourful posters and banners of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and party leader Tejashwi Yadav, among others, were put up at important locations in the city.

Congress leader Pawan Khera had earlier likened the yatra to a "religious pilgrimage in which people of all faiths are taking part". He had said that though the yatra would culminate in Patna on September 1, it would not be an end but the beginning of a new journey towards protecting democracy.

The yatra, launched by Rahul Gandhi from Sasaram on August 17, aimed to highlight the alleged assault on people's right to vote through the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. It passed through over 110 assembly constituencies in 25 of the 38 districts of the state.

The opposition parties have been alleging that the deletion of names of 6.5 million people from the draft electoral rolls published as part of SIR was an "assault" on their right to vote.

The Election Commission (EC) had come out with the names of 65 lakh people who were removed from the draft electoral rolls.

The development came after the Supreme Court directed the EC to publish the deleted names by August 19 and file a compliance report by August 22.