EC’s draft electoral rolls out in Bihar
7.24 cr voters enlisted, over 65 lakh names dropped
Patna: The Election Commission on Friday came out with the much-anticipated ‘draft electoral rolls’ in Bihar, enlisting 7.24 crore voters but knocking off more than 65 lakh names, claiming that most of the persons concerned had died or migrated.
The draft electoral rolls, prepared as part of the special intensive revision (SIR), which has caused much controversy as the exercise was ordered with just a few months left for assembly polls, are available for voters online.
The EC has also said it was making available printed copies, district wise, to representatives of political parties so that anomalies, if any, could be flagged during the ‘claims and objections’ phase, which would continue till September 1 before the ‘final rolls’ are published.
However, the main opposition party, the RJD, was unhappy with the system and in a memorandum, submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar, it demanded an ‘assembly segment-wise’ break-up conveniently downloaded “in a pen drive or on a CD”.
The Congress, which is the second-largest constituent of the INDIA bloc in the state, also challenged the EC to disclose “how many foreign nationals” were found to have been included in the voters’ list prior to SIR and whether they have been dropped in the ‘draft electoral rolls’.
Notably, the BJP-led NDA, which rules the Centre as well as the state, has been alleging that “a large number of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas” were living in Bihar, especially in the Kosi-Seemanchal region bordering Nepal and Bangladesh.
Leaders of the ruling coalition have also been claiming that many such “illegal immigrants” had been registered as voters and the deletion of their names was being opposed by the INDIA bloc because of “vote bank” concerns.
The EC also came out with a district-wise break-up of the number of voters registered prior to the commencement of SIR on June 25 and the “status” in the draft electoral rolls.
Patna, which houses the state capital, accounted for the highest number of 50.04 lakh voters registered “as on 24.06.2025” and the district also saw submission of 46.51 lakh “enumeration forms”, the maximum in the state.
Unsurprisingly, the district also accounted for the highest number of 3.95 lakh enumeration forms that remained unreceived, after being handed over to the voters, or were not included in the draft rolls.
Most of the enumeration forms were handed over to voters at their doorsteps by booth-level officers who were assisted in the mammoth exercise by booth-level agents of political parties, besides volunteers.
Also, as per the EC, 16 lakh voters obtained and submitted their enumeration forms online.
Besides Patna, other districts which accounted for a high number of enumeration forms “not received/not included” in the draft rolls were Madhubani (3.52 lakh), East Champaran (3.16 lakh), Gopalganj (3.10 lakh), Begusarai (2.84 lakh) and Muzaffarpur (28.3 lakh).
Quite a few districts, though, had fewer than one lakh such unreceived and non-included enumeration forms, with Sheikhpura accounting for the lowest number of 26,256.
The reasons cited by the EC for non-inclusion of previously registered voters in the draft rolls included death (22.34 lakh), “permanently shifted/absent” (36.28 lakh) and “already enrolled (at more than one places)” (7.01 lakh).
The number of registered voters in the state, before SIR kicked in, causing the Opposition to allege that it was an exercise aimed at the NDA retaining power, was close to 7.9 crore.
In the memorandum submitted by the RJD, the EC has also been asked to explain “on what basis” it concluded that a voter has died or “permanently migrated”. The party has asked the poll panel to disclose what documentary proof it obtained from family members before marking a voter as “dead”.
Similar concerns were voiced by another key INDIA bloc partner CPI(ML) Liberation, which has been calling SIR ‘votebandi’, rhyming with ‘notebandi’, and alleging that after hitting the poor hard with demonetisation, the BJP was out to disenfranchise them.
Reacting to the draft electoral rolls, the Left party issued a statement demanding that the names of all electors, who have been dropped, be made public.
The Congress, in its memorandum, also sought to know how many enumeration forms were received without photographs of the respective voter or documents by way of proof of identity, and whether these were duly “rejected” by the booth-level officers.
Notably, a bunch of petitions, many of these filed by the opposition parties, are pending before the Supreme Court to challenge the SIR, with a major bone of contention being non-acceptance of Aadhaar cards and ration cards, which the poor mostly have, as a valid proof of identity.
Hearing the petitions earlier this week, the apex court had made it clear that the exercise must not result in “en masse exclusion” while reiterating that Aadhaar cards be included in the list of documents the EC deems as acceptable.
Last week, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, who belongs to the RJD, had caused a flutter by declaring that the “option is being kept open to boycott assembly polls” if the EC did not squarely address the concerns.
