Minta Devi, a 35-year-old woman from Bihar's Siwan district, has expressed strong objections to the use of her name and image by the India bloc in their recent "voter chori" (vote theft) protest. The controversy arose after opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, wore T-shirts featuring Minta Devi's name and a claimed age of 124 years, highlighting alleged irregularities in the Election Commission's (EC) voter rolls.

Minta Devi, a housewife from a rural family, voiced her frustration and questioned the authority of political figures like Priyanka Gandhi to use her image without consent. She emphasized the distress caused to her and her family due to the sudden and unwanted publicity. "Who is Priyanka Gandhi to print my face in a T-shirt and wear it and oppose me?" Minta Devi stated, expressing her desire to avoid being used as a political pawn. Her primary concern is the correction of her voter ID, which incorrectly lists her age.

The India bloc's protest, which included senior leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and others, aimed to criticize the EC's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. The opposition has been alleging that the EC is not enforcing "one man one vote" and that the voter list revision is a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise voters ahead of the Bihar assembly elections. They claim that the SIR exercise is a form of "silent invisible rigging". The "Minta Devi" T-shirts were intended to symbolize these alleged irregularities, with the slogan "124 Not Out" printed on the back.

The EC has acknowledged the error in Minta Devi's age and stated that it is being rectified. They have defended the SIR as a necessary measure to remove ineligible names and update the voter list. The EC has also called out opposition parties for not filing objections to the revised voter list during the designated period. The BJP, in turn, has defended the Election Commission, dismissing the opposition's actions as a "tamasha".

The controversy has also drawn the attention of the Supreme Court, which observed that the EC was correct in not accepting Aadhaar cards as proof of citizenship during the voter list revision in Bihar. The opposition's protest march towards the EC office was halted by the police, leading to the detention of several MPs, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

This incident has sparked a wider debate on the accuracy of voter lists and the credibility of the electoral process in India. The Congress party has alleged widespread voter fraud, with Rahul Gandhi claiming that there are "unlimited cases" of irregularities. The party has accused the EC of becoming a "department of the BJP".