About 37% voters in Bihar will have to submit eligibility proof as EC begins electoral roll revision

With a “special intensive revision” of Bihar’s electoral rolls underway, the Election Commission on Saturday said that out of the total 7.89 crore electors in the state, 4.96 crore whose names were already on the rolls on January 1, 2003 will only have to fill and submit a new enumeration form.

The remaining 2.93 crore – or about 37% of the electors – whose names were not on the voter list after the last revision of electoral rolls was conducted in 2003, will therefore need to submit proof of eligibility.

The special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24, ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled to be held in the state at the end of the year.

The poll panel had said that the review needed to be conducted due to reasons such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, fresh voters, non-reported deaths and the “inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants”.

This was the first time that the Election Commission has talked about undocumented migrants being part of the electoral roll in the state after the last special intensive revision held in 2003.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names are not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility.

Voters born before July 1, 1987...

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