The Election Commission of India (ECI) has identified more than 52 lakh discrepancies in Bihar’s electoral rolls as part of its ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive, raising fresh concerns just months before the state heads to the polls.
In a press release issued Tuesday, the Commission revealed that the massive verification effort uncovered 18.66 lakh deceased voters, 26.01 lakh individuals who have permanently relocated, and 7.5 lakh names duplicated across multiple constituencies. Additionally, over 11,000 voters could not be traced at their registered addresses.
The findings come ahead of the publication of the draft electoral rolls scheduled for August 1 and have sparked backlash from opposition parties. Critics argue the revision drive disproportionately affects Bihar’s poor and marginalised populations, including a large number of migrant workers who reside outside the state.
Bihar’s total electorate stood at 7.89 crore as of June 24. While 90.67% of voters have submitted Enumeration Forms (EFs), over 21 lakh forms remain unsubmitted, raising fears of incomplete data and possible disenfranchisement. The ECI noted that 97.3% of electors have been verified so far.
Nearly one lakh booth-level officers (BLOs), supported by four lakh volunteers and 1.5 lakh booth-level agents (BLAs) from 12 political parties, have been deployed for door-to-door verification under the revision programme.
The Commission has also held consultations with political parties and shared detailed lists of voters flagged during the process. A public window for objections, deletions, and corrections to the draft rolls will be open from August 1 to September 1.
While the ECI maintains that the drive aims to ensure an accurate and inclusive electoral roll, the initiative has already faced legal challenges. More than 10 petitions—led by civil society group Association for Democratic Reforms—have been filed in the Supreme Court, calling for the suspension of the verification campaign.
Several political leaders have also approached the apex court, including RJD’s Manoj Jha, TMC’s Mahua Moitra, Congress’s K.C. Venugopal, NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule, CPI’s D. Raja, SP’s Harinder Singh Malik, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Sawant, JMM’s Sarfraz Ahmed, and CPI (ML)’s Dipankar Bhattacharya.
