Bihar SIR: ECI reveals 18 lakh voters are dead, 7.5 lakh duplicates and 11,000 untraceable

The Election Commission of India on Tuesday announced that 51 lakh names were removed the the Bihar electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The draft electoral roll, which is expected to be published on August 1, will include all eligible voters, the poll panel said.

In a note titled "Facts revealed from Bihar SIR so far", the election panel pointed out that it covered 7.68 crore voters covered through enumeration forms, leaving out 21.35 lakh voters.

Of these 18.66 lakh voters are dead while 26 lakh have moved to other constituencies. Yet another 7.5 lakh voters were enrolled in two places, effectively making them duplicate voters. The remaining 11,484 voters are "untraceable".

The SIR comes amid opposition parties raising concerns about voters being left out of the electoral roll. Addressing this, the election commission promised that the list can be amended to include anyone who was omitted. For this, voters must submit enumeration forms by July 25, a week before the draft electoral roll is scheduled to be published. The verification process is carried out with the help of more than 1.5 lakh booth-level agents appointed by 12 major political parties.

From August 1 to September 1, public objections can be submitted for additions, deletions and rectifications in the draft. Bihar elections are expected to be held by November, when the current assembly's term ends.

Bihar recently became the first state to cap polling stations under 1,200 voters in a bid to reduce overcrowding and smoothen election process. This has necessitated creation of 12,817 new booths, bringing the total number to 90,712. This model will be used as a template for other states and Union Territories ahead of elections there.

India