Bihar electoral roll revision: Over 80% voters have submitted enumeration forms, says EC

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A total of 80.11% electors in Bihar have submitted their enumeration forms as part of the ongoing special intensive revision of the state's electoral rolls, the Election Commission said on Saturday.
Of the total 6.32 crore enumeration forms collected till 6 pm on Saturday, booth-level officers have successfully digitised and uploaded 4.66 crore on the commission's ECINET mobile application, added the poll panel.
According to the Election Commission, with this pace, the collection of enumeration forms is expected to be completed 'well before' the deadline on July 25.
The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.
As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility to vote. This means that 2.9 crore out of the state's 7.8 crore voters – or about 37% of the electors – will have to submit documentary evidence.
Voters born before July 1, 1987, must show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents. Those born after December 2, 2004, will need proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents.
If the officers are satisfied with the details provided, the voters will be re-enrolled to a new voter list by electoral registration officers. If not, they will be removed from the voter lists.
A draft roll will be published on August 1 and the final roll will be out on September 30.
On July 2, eleven INDIA bloc parties told the Election Commission that the special intensive revision of Bihar's electoral rolls risked disenfranchising more than 2.5 crore voters, as they may not be able to produce the necessary documents.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on July 6 defended the exercise, claiming that the exercise had to be carried out as no one was satisfied with the current voter rolls.
He also said that all measures were being taken to facilitate voters to complete their documentation as part of the revision exercise. 'These existing voters will have time to submit the documents even after first submitting their Enumeration Forms,' the chief electoral officer had said.
Four days later, the Supreme Court urged the Election Commission on July 10 to consider Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards and ration cards as valid documents for the revision of electoral rolls. The court will hear the case further on July 28.