Chief Election Commissioner defends SIR in Bihar, ECI says no change in instructions

The Hindu

a day ago

Defending the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls under way in Bihar, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday (July 7, 2025) said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had held extensive consultations with all political parties and 'no one was satisfied with the current status of electoral rolls for one reason or other'. The ECI too clarified that the SIR was being conducted as per its June 24 order announcing the exercise and there was 'no change in the instructions'.
The clarification was issued following front-page advertisements in newspapers in Patna by the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), stating people can submit their filled enumeration forms now and provide the documents later. Issued in Hindi, the advertisement said, 'If you do not have requisite documents, then provide the enumeration forms to the Booth Level Officers.'
This prompted statements from Opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, that the ECI had backtracked under pressure from them. Mr. Kharge had posted on X: 'When people rise, BJP backtracks'. He further claimed that 'the master plan that the BJP had devised to deprive crores of people in Bihar of their voting rights seems to be ensnaring the BJP itself'. He also credited 'pressure from the Opposition, the public and civil society' for the ECI issuing the advertisement, which he said stated that 'only the form needs to be filled and documents were not necessary'. 'This is part of the BJP's tactic to mislead and confuse the public. The truth is that the BJP has decided it will crush democracy at all costs. But when faced with public opposition, it cleverly takes a step back,' Mr. Kharge said.
However, CEO Vinod Singh Gunjiyal clarified, 'SIR in Bihar is progressing as per EC's order dated 24 June 2025... All measures are being taken to facilitate the existing electors to complete the documentation. These existing voters will have time to submit the documents even after first submitting their Enumeration Forms. All activities are exactly as per EC's order dated 24.06.2025.'
Further clarification was also issued stating there was 'no change in the instructions'. The panel said while the voters were required to 'submit their documents anytime before July 25', those who failed to do so would get an opportunity 'during the claims and objections period also'.
The ECI in its statement further cautioned voters against statements being made by few persons 'who without reading the SIR order dated 24 June' were orchestrating and attempting to confuse the public with their 'incorrect and misleading' statements.
Mr. Kumar too issued a short statement without naming any political party. 'During the past four months, all 4,123 EROs [Electoral Registration Officers], all 775 DEOs [District Election Officers] and all 36 CEOs have held nearly 5,000 meetings with 28,000 political party representatives. The EC has also invited all recognised political parties for interaction. No one was satisfied with the current status of electoral rolls for one reason or the other'.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties continued to point out various infirmities with the process. Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya pointed out that 'only 14% filled forms have been returned after 10 days, and the EC knows that a huge number of voters will be eliminated at the draft stage itself'.
Senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Rajya Sabha member Manoj K. Jha told The Hindu that the ECI had only tried to make its own work easier by asking voters to fill the enumeration form even if they don't have the documents.
'This is an admission that the documents they are asking for are not easily available with the majority of the population. They are on the back foot. And this does not address the real problem,' Mr. Jha said.
On Friday (July 4, 2025), a delegation of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) leaders headed by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav met Mr. Gunjiyal to raise their objections to the SIR. They demanded that Aadhaar card, ration card and MGNREGA card be added to the list of admissible documents under SIR.
As per data, till 7 p.m. on Saturday (July 5, 2025), 1,12,01,674 enumeration forms have been collected in Bihar, which is 14.18% of the total number of potential voters. In addition, the total number of counting forms uploaded was 23,90,329, of which 23,14,602 forms were uploaded through BLOs, while 75,789 forms were uploaded by general voters through online mode.