Around 51 lakh voters to be removed from Bihar voter list as ECI finds major discrepancies in SIR exercise due to duplicate entries, death and shifting of voters

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has found major differences in the voter roll of Bihar through a special verification campaign referred to as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The ECI reported that approximately 18 lakh enrolled voters have died, 26 lakh have shifted, and 7 lakh names are duplicates.

The ECI revealed that nearly 97.30% of Bihar’s total 7.89 crore voters have completed the enumeration forms till now. That is more than 7.68 crore voters have already replied.

Officers such as the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), District Election Officers (DEOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are coordinating with political party workers to sanitize the voters’ list. The ECI has also published a list of 21.36 lakh voters whose forms are yet to be submitted, and approximately 52.30 lakh names of individuals who are deceased, have migrated permanently, or are listed in more than one location.

The ECI further stated that the BLOs and EROs are providing detailed lists of such voters to all political parties so that the process remains transparent. The people will be allowed a complete one-month period in order to object to or make corrections on names being added or removed from the voter list.

Opposition raises concerns

But the Opposition is strongly criticising this exercise. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has charged the NDA alliance with attempting to delete names of people from the voter roll. She complained that voter rolls were inflated in Maharashtra elections, and now, voters are being deleted in Bihar in the guise of revision.

She stated, “Earlier, in Maharashtra, votes were tampered with by padding electoral rolls. Now, in Bihar, efforts are being made to do the same by deleting voters’ names. The ‘vote ban’ under the pretext of SIR is a plot to grab the right to vote given by the Constitution. We oppose every attempt to crush the Constitution.”

SIR exercise in Bihar

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is being conducted in Bihar to revise the voters’ lists for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. This kind of intensive revision occurred in the state for the last time in 2003. Due to changes such as urban migration, fatalities, new young voters, and the problem of illegal immigrants, a new verification became necessary. 

BLOs have been designated to go to houses and ensure the rolls are correct. The objective is straightforward: to register all legitimate voters, eliminate illegitimate ones, and maintain transparency in the procedure.

The elections for the Bihar Assembly are scheduled later in the year sometime around October or November, but the official release date has not been declared yet.

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