NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday shared details of its ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, revealing that 98.01 per cent of voters have been covered in the exercise so far, as of July 23.According to officials, the revision has identified nearly 20 lakh deceased voters and 28 lakh individuals who have permanently migrated from their registered addresses. Moreover, 7 lakh voters were found enrolled at more than one location, 1 lakh were marked as untraceable, and around 15 lakh voter forms were not returned.The EC also stated that 7.17 crore voter forms, roughly 90.89% of the total, have been received and digitised during the process.
This is the first time in 22 years that such a revision is being conducted in Bihar. The main objective is to clean up the voter list by removing ineligible, duplicate, or non-existent entries while ensuring that all eligible citizens are included.The move comes amid legal scrutiny, with the Supreme Court and opposition parties questioning the EC’s June 24 directive to begin a nationwide SIR, starting with Bihar. In its affidavit defending the decision, the poll panel said:“The SIR exercise adds to the purity of elections by weeding out ineligible persons from the electoral roll. The entitlement to vote flows from Article 326 read with Sections 16 and 19 of the RP Act 1950 and Section 62 of the RP Act 1951 which contains certain qualifications with respect to citizenship, age, and ordinary residency. An ineligible person has no right to vote, and thus, cannot claim a violation of Articles 19 and 21 in this regard.“The EC further clarified that while documents such as Aadhaar, voter ID cards, and ration cards are not mandatory for inclusion, they are being used in a limited way for identity verification during the SIR-2025 exercise.“In addition to the legal concerns already articulated hereinabove, these documents are, in fact, already being considered by the Commission for the limited purpose of identity, during the SIR process,” the affidavit added.
