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EC's voter verification drive stirs political pot ahead of Bihar polls
Archis Mohan Delhi
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Amid mounting criticism from the Opposition parties over its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India (EC) on Sunday insisted that it has completed the 'initial phase' of the exercise.
On June 24, the poll body had issued instructions to carry out the SIR in Bihar aimed at weeding out ineligible names and ensuring that only eligible citizens are included in final electoral rolls. Reasoning out its move, the EC pointed at rapid urbanisation, migration, addition of new voters, and names of foreign illegal immigrants appearing on the voters' list. It said that
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Scroll.in
16 minutes ago
- Scroll.in
Bihar electoral rolls revision: No change in instructions on procedure, clarifies EC
The Election Commission on Sunday clarified that there was 'no change in instructions' on the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar. Earlier in the day, the office of the Bihar chief electoral officer had 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. The chief electoral officer had issued public notices in Hindi newspapers on Sunday saying that if voters were unable to submit their documents, they could submit only enumeration forms to block-level officers. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge claimed on X that the Election Commission published the advertisements in response to pressure from the Opposition and civil society. 'When faced with public opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party cleverly takes a step back,' he claimed. भाजपा ने चुनाव आयोग के सहयोग से, बिहार में करोड़ों लोगों का वोटिंग का अधिकार छीनने का जो मास्टर प्लॉन बनाया था, उसमें अब भाजपा खुद फँसती नज़र आ रही है। पहले दिन से ही, कांग्रेस पार्टी Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls (SIR) के ख़िलाफ़ आवाज़ उठा रही है। जो लोग… — Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) July 6, 2025 In a clarification on Sunday evening, the poll panel said that the revision of voter rolls was being carried out as per an order issued on June 24, and that there had been no change in instructions since then. 'The electors can submit their documents any time before July 25, 2025,' the Election Commission said. 'After publication of draft Electoral Rolls, if any document is deficient, [electoral registration officers] can obtain such documents, from the electors whose name appears in the draft Electoral Rolls, during scrutiny in the Claims and Objection period.' The Election Commission said that till 6 pm on Sunday, it had received the enumeration forms of 1,69,49,408 voters, or 21.46% of the voting population. It added that 7.25% of the forms had been uploaded on the commission's ECINET app. No one was satisfied with current voter rolls: EC chief Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday defended the ongoing special intensive revision of Bihar's electoral rolls, claiming that the exercise had to carried out as no one was satisfied with the current voter rolls, The Hindu reported. Kumar said that in the past four months, electoral registration officers, district election officers and all 36 chief electoral officers in the country held nearly 5,000 meetings with 28,000 political party representatives. 'The EC has also invited all recognised political parties for interaction,' he said, according to The Hindu. 'No one was satisfied with the current status of electoral rolls for one reason or the other.' Revision of electoral rolls The special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24, ahead of the Assembly elections expected to be held in the state in October or November. 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. The special intensive revision guidelines issued earlier stated that the 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. disenfranchising more than 2.5 crore voters, as they may not be able to produce the necessary documents.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Why are Bihar's electoral rolls being revised?
The story so far: The Election Commission of India (EC) has initiated a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar before the general elections for its Legislative Assembly. What is an electoral roll? Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for the conduct of elections to Parliament and State legislature shall vest with the EC. Article 326 provides that every citizen who is not less than 18 years of age shall be entitled to be registered as a voter (elector). The electoral rolls are prepared by the EC as per the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RP Act). Section 16 of the RP Act disqualifies a non-citizen from being enrolled in the electoral roll. Section 19 requires that the person is not less than 18 years of age on the qualifying date and is ordinarily resident in the constituency. Section 20 of the RP Act provides the meaning of the term 'ordinarily resident'. It specifies that a person shall not be deemed to be 'ordinarily resident' in a constituency simply because he/she owns or possesses a dwelling house in such constituency. However, at the same time, a person 'temporarily absent' from his/her place of residence shall continue to be 'ordinarily resident' therein. Why has an SIR been initiated? Section 21 of the RP Act deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls. It authorises the EC to carry out a special revision of the electoral roll at any time for reasons to be recorded. The Election Commission has noted that there have been large scale additions and deletions to the electoral rolls over the last 20 years due to rapid urbanisation and migration. This has increased the possibility of duplicate entries in the roll. The Commission is constitutionally obligated to ensure that only citizens are enrolled in the electoral rolls. Accordingly, the EC has decided to carry out an SIR for the entire country, starting with Bihar. The last such SIR was carried out for Bihar in the year 2003. Since the Bihar Assembly elections are due in November, the EC has presently laid down the guidelines for an SIR of the Bihar electoral roll with the qualifying date as July 1, 2025. During the last SIR, enumerators were sent for house-to-house verification with a copy of the details of the existing voters. However, in the present SIR, every elector will have to submit an enumeration form to their respective Booth Level Officers (BLOs). For electors registered in the electoral roll as of January 2003 (on the basis of the last SIR), no further documents are required to be submitted except the extract of the 2003 electoral roll. However, electors registered after January 2003, have to additionally submit documents for establishing the date and place of birth for themselves and their parent(s) as required. The schedule for the current SIR is provided in Table 1. What are the pros and cons? There have been arguments for and against the SIR made by various stakeholders. The key issues of contention are summarised below. The process and time required for the entire exercise: Proponents in support of the SIR in its present form argue that the SIR in 2003 was carried out in 31 days without technological support. This time also the same amount of time will be taken for the exercise with technology. Moreover, there are more than one lakh BLOs, nearly 4 lakh volunteers and more than 1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs), appointed by political parties, to ensure the smooth implementation of this exercise. Counter arguments against the SIR in its present form state that it is a humungous task which involves the submission of forms by all eight crore voters that has never been done before. Furthermore, close to three crore voters would be required to submit documents establishing their date and place of birth for themselves and their parents. Migrant labourers and students may not be able to submit their enumeration forms within the deadline. Despite the presence of so many field level workers, there can be potential errors in inclusion and exclusion. The exclusion of Aadhaar as a document for registration: Proponents of the SIR in its present form say that the Aadhaar is neither a proof of date of birth nor of citizenship. The Aadhaar card itself carries a disclaimer stating that it can't be used as proof of citizenship. Hence, in line with constitutional and legal requirements, the Aadhaar has been excluded as a valid document. The list of valid documents include caste certificates, family registers and land allotment certificates. Proponents against the SIR in its present form argue that the Aadhaar has become an omnibus identity card for all sections of society, especially the under privileged who may not possess any other document. Form 6 for the inclusion of new voters as per the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 (RER) requires that Aadhaar be provided compulsorily unless the person doesn't have one. It is mentioned as a proof of date of birth and place of residence as per Form 6. These rules were made by the Central government as per the RP Act. It is only in the SIR guidelines that the EC has added a declaration form to be submitted along with Form 6, with additional documents other than Aadhaar for the purposes of establishing date and place of birth. Exclusion of migrants from the electoral roll: Arguments for the SIR in its present form state that the RP Act provides that only citizens who are 'ordinarily resident' should be included in the electoral roll of a constituency. Migrants who have moved away for long periods of time on account of education or employment would be included in the electoral roll of the constituency of their current residence as per provisions of the RP Act and the RER. However, counter arguments posit that the RP Act provides that 'persons temporarily absent' do not cease to be 'ordinarily resident'. Many migrant workers shift to other places within the State or outside the State but return at regular intervals to their place of birth/ upbringing. The families and properties of such migrants may continue in the same location where they would want to retain their right to vote. The EC, as recently as January 2023, had indicated its intention of providing a remote voting facility for such migrant workers subject to technical feasibility and acceptance by all stakeholders. What can be the way forward? To provide an analogy, the inclusion of an ineligible name in the electoral roll is like a guilty person going scot-free, while the exclusion of an eligible voter is akin to one innocent person suffering. Both these prospects would be a blight on democracy. Therefore, electoral rolls should be thoroughly checked and verified. First, the proposed timelines for the completion of such a mammoth exercise are stretched. The EC should ensure that adequate safeguards are put in place for the completion of the exercise without errors. The BLAs should actively participate to prevent errors of omission or addition. Secondly, the exclusion of Aadhaar from the list of valid documents can create issues for many, especially the underprivileged. After considering the ground realities during the first phase of the enumeration, the EC should adequately tailor the process, during the claims and objections phase, to ensure that no eligible citizen is excluded due to their inability to produce any document from the list of valid documents. Finally, migrant workers should not be removed from the rolls as that can result in significant deletions. Many such migrants have exercised their right to vote in the place of their birth/upbringing as per their choice and should continue to do so. It is pertinent to note that as per the amendment of the RP Act in 2010, non-resident Indians who have shifted out of India, even for the long term on account of employment, education or otherwise, are entitled to register and vote in the constituency in which their address as per passport is located. The issue of duplicate voter IDs for the same person in different constituencies should be addressed through Aadhaar seeding for which the EC had begun its consultative process in March 2025. Rangarajan. R is a former IAS officer and author of 'Courseware on Polity Simplified'. He currently trains at Officers IAS Academy. Views expressed are personal.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
In Bihar, Election Commission once deepened democracy. It's current ‘revision' does the opposite
The Election Commission of India needs to pause and ask itself an urgent question: Why is the exercise it has initiated in Bihar changing the subject in the poll-bound state — from the excitements of who the people will vote for, to anxieties about whether or not all voters will be allowed to cast their vote, which is their fundamental right? On paper, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that the EC has launched since June 28, seems unexceptionable. After all, Article 324 of the Constitution empowers the EC to oversee elections and Article 326 directs that the franchise be limited to adult Indian citizens. The updating of electoral rolls is supported by the Registration of Electors Rules 1960 and Representation of the People Act 1950. The last SIR was done in 2003 and there have been annual summary revisions in several states since. The EC has cited the reasons why — migration, need to weed out names of foreign illegal immigrants, to include newly eligible voters, delete names of the dead. And yet, the ongoing exercise takes place in circumstances that have stoked widespread insecurities. For one, it has been announced barely four months before an election, which makes the timelines enormously challenging administratively, and in fact impossible to meet — almost 3 crore voters in nearly 30 days, with only about 3 per cent of the forms uploaded on the EC website till end of last week — in a state which is flood prone, has a high migration rate, and where large sections do not have either the awareness or the wherewithal. Additional documentation has been asked from those whose names are not recorded in the 2003 electoral rolls — they need to submit at least one of 11 documents to establish their eligibility —shifting the burden of proof to the voter. As an ongoing series of ground reports in this newspaper reveals, this has triggered a scramble for documents that many voters don't have, and don't know how to procure, and raised fears of an 'NRC through the backdoor'. It has created conditions where vulnerable sections, including the poor, migrant labourers, SCs, STs, Muslims, elderly and women face the imminent spectre of disenfranchisement. The EC's latest advertisement, which has been read by some as saying that enumeration forms can be submitted first and documents later, has only added to the uncertainty. Against this backdrop, the EC must lose no time in going back to the drawing board. It must look again at some of the available data on Bihar — where in 2007, the year those who have become eligible to vote in this election were born, only one-fourth of the estimated births were registered; where according to 2022 estimates, only 14.71 per cent graduated from class 10; where total number of valid passports issued till 2023 was barely 2 per cent. The EC must also remind itself of its own stellar record: Bihar was among the states that benefited most from the electoral reforms that the Commission initiated in the 1990s and built upon subsequently. In this state of backwardness and inequalities, the rigorous supervision of free and fair polls — moving the polling booth to Dalit neighbourhoods, for example —has meant a heartening deepening of democracy. The EC must immediately shift the exercise of revision of electoral rolls to a later time, after this election is done, and allow space for feedback, public awareness campaigns, consultation with all parties. At stake is the people's trust, and its institutional credibility. At stake, most of all, is the sanctity of every citizen's constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right to vote. For, on refreshed poll lists, Bihar will show the way for the nation.
