PATNA, Aug. 25 -- The battle line seems to have been clearly drawn for the Bihar assembly elections. The Opposition, led by the Congress, has picked up the theme of 'Vote Chori (Vote Theft)' with allegation against the Election Commission of committing it on behalf of the BJP. This message is now travelling across Bihar with its star campaigner Rahul Gandhi. The ruling NDA, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has prepared a counter with insistence on the government's resolve to act against infiltrators and how the Opposition was backing them. For the Congress, it is after a long wait that the party has taken the lead to spearhead the Opposition in Bihar, a state where it mostly played second fiddle to the RJD since 1990. But it will be a challenge for the grand old party to cash in on the momentum as in the wake of the NDA putting up a berserk combat, chances are that polarisation of voters will take place. While the opinion is split on the relentless attack on the EC, a constitutional body, that has been conducting all elections after independence, experts feel that it could provide a footing to the Congress that seeks to recover the ground it lost 35 years ago, in alliance or under the umbrella of the RJD. "In the relentless and vicious attack on the EC, led by leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has emerged as the main Opposition face, with all the other constituents of the INDIA bloc strongly rallying round him -- a position the party never had. But it would have to tread cautiously as this has the potential of polarising votes, which the BJP has so far struggled to achieve in Bihar state polls," said DM Diwakar, former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences. "For the Congress, it is a position it always wanted to take, but it did not have the opportunity due to strong RJD, which still retains the space of being the main Opposition party in the state. However, the way Rahul Gandhi has upped the ante, it has certainly helped the party dictate the agenda and seize the leadership initiative in a state where it had enjoyed a numero uno status for decades in the past. However, the real challenge will be to see how it all translates into votes. One more factor might augur well for the Congress and it is that in Bihar, the socio-economic dynamics play up so strongly that they reduce the possibility of polarisation," he added. During his Gayaji visit on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not refer to the INDIA bloc's ongoing Yatra against the alleged anomalies in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, but said that he would not allow illegal immigrants to usurp the rights of the Bihar people and take away their land. Attacking the Congress, RJD and the Left for playing vote politics to shield illegal immigrants as part of their appeasement politics, Modi's message was direct for his party leaders in the state as well as for the masses. In a demonstration of BJP's resolve to defend initiatives like the SIR and revert barbs of the Opposition, Union minister of state for home Nityanand Raj said that the language spoken by Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav was doing them more harm than good in the eyes of the people and their quest to become the PM and CM would remain a dream, as "it would not be able to resurrect their fortune in the state that has moved on the development path under PM and chief minister Nitish Kumar". "Moving with a copy of the Constitution and insulting it would not do. Rahul Gandhi is trying to take the lead within the Opposition bloc, as he wants more seats for the Congress, but beyond that Rahul's 'spit and run' politics will not succeed, as infiltrators will never get the right to vote. The PM has said it clearly and the Demography Mission would unravel the reality on the ground, which the people face today, before it is too late for concrete steps to get rid of infiltrators," he added. State Congress leadership thought that the BJP would certainly try to trigger polarisation in Bihar but the issue of SIR would fail it. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan said that the crowd at the "Voter Adhikar Yatra" currently underway in the leadership of Rahul and Tejashwi is indicative of the masses getting mobilised on large scale against the "vote manipulations" through the SIR. "The Congress has shouldered its responsibility by championing the cause that is key to a healthy democracy and all the INDIA bloc constituents are together as one unit on this pivotal issue. Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav are moving together. It is not an issue of who is bigger; rather it is the cause that is the biggest. The BJP's attempts at polarising votes is not new. What is new is the manipulation of votes and the people have understood it," he added. Social analyst Prof NK Choudhary said that the polarisation of votes is a reality that both the BJP and the Congress are trying to use to their advantage. He added that the INDIA bloc seeks to take this issue to reverberate nationally so that it could corner the NDA in the entire country, and not just in Bihar. "Polarisation is either of Hindus or Muslims. Narendra Modi is a 'polarising figure'. The Yatra of Rahul Gandhi has been for mobilising Muslims, who are seen as the main casualty of the SIR. The Congress wants to draw them back to its fold. How this will all translate into outcome is difficult to say at this stage, as optics can be misleading at times and there is a lot of time left before the elections. But one thing is clear so far, Rahul Gandhi has certainly revived the Congress from the dormant stage in the state. The re-emergence of Congress leadership could have far reaching consequences, which RJD chief Lalu Prasad must also be keenly observing," he added....