EC to upload 2003 Bihar voter list; 4.96 crore won't need fresh documents

Time of India

16 hours ago

The Election Commission will soon upload the 2003 Bihar electoral roll on its website to facilitate the nearly 4.96 crore voters whose names figure on it extract the relevant portion to be attached with the enumeration form for the special intensive revision of the voters' list.
According to the instructions issued by the poll authority to its Bihar poll machinery, the 4.96 crore voters -- 60 per cent of the total electors -- who were listed in the 2003 special intensive revision need not submit any supporting document to establish their date or place or birth except the relevant portion of the electoral roll brought out after the revision.
The other three crore -- nearly 40 per cent -- will have to provide one of the 11 listed documents to establish their place or date of birth.
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"The basic exercise is to identify each and every individual of the remaining three crore voters before their names are included in the list," a functionary explained.
The special intensive revision will ensure that no eligible elector is left out of the electoral rolls and no ineligible one is part of it, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar told PTI on Sunday.
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Bihar, as of now, has more than 7.89 crore voters spread across 243 assembly seats. Polls in the state are due later this year.
According to EC instructions, the electoral registration officer (ERO) of each assembly constituency will be responsible for ensuring that "no eligible citizen is left out and no ineligible person is included in the electoral roll" while carrying out the revision.
The EROs will satisfy themselves regarding the eligibility of every person before entering their name in the electoral roll.
The EC said every existing elector, as on the date, will be provided available an enumeration form through a booth level officer (BLO). The elector can download the enumeration form from a dedicated website.
The BLO will collect a copy of the enumeration form and sign the acknowledgement of receipt on the second copy to be retained by the existing elector.
Based on the enumeration forms received, along with documents, the ERO will prepare the draft roll.
The last intensive revision in Bihar was done in 2003, with January 1, 200,3, as the qualifying date.
"As the eligibility of electors enrolled in the electoral rolls after the last intensive revision was established then, the Commission has decided that such electors need not attach any additional document alongwith the enumeration form, except the extract of the roll.
"Thus, CEO/DEO/ERO shall make the electoral rolls with a qualifying date of 01.01.2003 freely available to all BLOs in hard copу, as well as online on their website for anyone to download and use as documentary evidence while submitting their enumeration form," the poll panel said.
As part of the intense revision, poll officials will carry out house-to-house verification to ensure an error-free voters' list.
The terms of the legislative assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are ending in May-June next year, and an intensive revision of the electoral rolls in these states will commence by the end of the year, officials said.
However, since assembly polls in Bihar are due later this year, the EC decided to conduct the revision there immediately.
Amid allegations by opposition parties that the EC has fudged voter data to help the BJP, the poll panel has taken additional steps in the intensive revision to ensure illegal migrants do not get enrolled in the voters' list.
An additional 'declaration form' has been introduced for a category of applicants seeking to become electors or shifting from outside the state. They will have to undertake that they were born in India before July 1, 1987, and provide any document establishing the date of birth and/or place of birth.
One of the options listed in the declaration form is that they were born in India between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004.
They will also have to submit documents about the date and place of birth of their parents.
The last intensive revision for Bihar was conducted in 2003.
The EC said multiple reasons, such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of the exercise to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls.