Patna: Chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday said the successful special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar last year contributed to a sharp rise in voter turnout in the 2025 assembly elections.Speaking at a news conference at Patna airport after arriving for a two-day visit to the state, Kumar said Bihar’s polling percentage in the assembly elections was higher than turnout in several advanced democracies, including the US, the UK, France, Spain and Japan.The CEC said, “Vaishali, the cradle of democracy, is situated in Bihar. We take pride in the fact that the SIR was conducted successfully for the first time in Bihar.”He said the three-month revision exercise, during which nearly 70 lakh names were removed from the electoral rolls, was followed by record turnout in the state elections. The assembly polls held in Nov last year recorded 67.25% voting, the highest in Bihar since Independence, according to the Election Commission.Kumar said men and women turned out in large numbers after the revision, helping the state register a record polling percentage.A high-level Election Commission delegation led by Kumar reached Bihar on Sunday. During the visit, Kumar will launch Electoral Literacy Club 2.0 from Patna. The upgraded initiative will be launched at a one-day conference on Electoral Literacy Club 2.0 and ECINET at Gyan Bhavan on Aug 17, where Kumar will be the chief guest.Thousands of students, teachers, vice-chancellors, principals and heads of institutions from more than 400 schools, colleges and universities are expected to attend.Kumar will also interact with 500 booth level officers at Nalanda University in Rajgir to discuss their experiences and ground-level challenges. The delegation includes senior deputy election commissioner Manish Garg, director general (media) Ashish Goyal, director general (IT) Seema Khanna and other senior officials.
