Bihar voter list revision: 5 key flashpoints between EC, Opposition; how poll body has responded so far

Mint

3 days ago

The Supreme Court is set to hear on Thursday, July 10, a bunch of petitions challenging the Election Commission's "Special Intensive Revision" of Electoral Rolls in Bihar.
The Election Commission had issued instructions on June 24 to carry out a Special Intensive Revision in Bihar to weed out ineligible names and ensure all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll.
The EC's direction, which came just months ahead of the Bihar Assembly Election, sparked controversy.
Several activists and the Opposition objected to the provision that required large sections of Bihar voters to submit proof of citizenship to remain on the electoral rolls.
RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PUCL, activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam filed petitions challenging the ECI decision
This is just the latest among the challenges that the Election Commission faces since the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections. In 2024, the Opposition levelled a slew of allegations against the poll body, saying the elections in these states were "rigged".
Here's a list of key allegations against the Election Commission and how the poll body has reacted to them so far:
The Opposition parties have maintained that the exercise could deprive genuine voters of their right to benefit the ruling parties in Bihar.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which is one the of petitioners in the matter, said the EC's June 24 order asks one category of citizens to submit proof of date of birth and place of birth.
"For another category, it asks for proof of date of birth/place of birth of self and one of the parents. For another category, proof of date of birth and place of birth for both parents is required," Jagdeep Chhokar, co-founder of the election watchdog, the ADR, explained.
"So this is a change in the criteria for eligibility of a voter. This is illegal when done by the Election Commission," he said, while explaining why this revision is "illegal and impractical". Full interview here
EC's response: In a statement, the poll panel said the revision of electoral rolls is must as it is a dynamic list which keeps changing due to deaths, shifting of people due to migration and addition of new voters who have turned 18.
The Election Commission officials further addressed the issue of duplicate voter cards numbers — same card numbers erroneously issued to two different persons.
They told news agency PTI that the issue of many persons enrolling in different places by giving different unmatching details to procure more than one electoral photo identity card can only be resolved through SIR. It is practically impossible to detect such cases through software tools.
Questioning the Maharashtra Assembly elections results, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged irregularities in the state's voter list -- "large-scale additions and deletions of voters."
In February, Rahul Gandhi alleged that after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections (which the INDIA bloc won in June), almost 70 lakh new voters "suddenly arrived in Maharashtra ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls [Assembly polls in
He later claimed that, 'Between the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 32 lakh voters were added to Maharashtra's electoral rolls over five years.'
"However, between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2024 Vidhan Sabha elections, 39 lakh new voters were added in just five months,' Rahul Gandhi said.
Election Commission's response: The ECI said that there were no arbitrary additions or deletions in Maharashtra.
The Opposition also raised questions on the "gap" in voter turnout between the end of polling hours (5 pm), the end of polling day and the final turnout.
EC's response: The Election Commission said it was incorrect to compare the figures directly.
In a letter to the Congress, the ECI explained how an increase in voter turnout from 5 pm to 11:45 pm is normal as part of the process of aggregation of voter turnout and how there can be fide but inconsequential differences in "votes polled" and "Votes Counted" data.
During a court hearing, the ECI had argued that the real-time voter turnout figures given by the Voter Turnout App are tentative because it is being updated on a real-time basis. "So any mismatch with the App Data and Form 17C data is not material," the EC's counsel had said. Read more here
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had questioned the 'unexplained slowdown in updating of results of Haryana Assembly Elections 2024' on the EC website.
EC's response: The poll body said there was nothing on record to substantiate the Congress leader's "ill-founded allegation" of a slowdown in the updation of Haryana poll results.
The Election Commission found itself in the broil after the Opposition raised doubts over the absolute mismatch between the exit poll results and the official election results --which had triggered a political upheaval in Haryana.
In Haryana Assembly elections 2024, most of the exit polls had forecast a clear win for the Congress. On the result day, early trends showed the Congress leading in the Haryana polls. However, a major turnaround declared the BJP as the winner of the state polls.
EC's response: In October 2024, the then Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar slammed early election trends on the vote-counting day as "nonsense."
He said the Election Commission follows a process of counting and declaring results. The CEC said it's impossible to reveal results around 8:05 am when actual counting starts at 8:30 am. He said the EC usually updates its website with official results around 9:30 am on a regular counting day.