EC's voter verification drive stirs political pot ahead of Bihar polls

While the poll body insists its drive will ensure integrity of electoral rolls, the Opposition alleges it will disenfranchise millions from marginalised sections. Archis Mohan explains

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 the initiative will ensure the integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls.

  Since then, politicians, activists, and a citizens’ group have petitioned the Supreme Court against the EC’s move. Among those who filed the petitions are: Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), political activist Yogendra Yadav, and Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra.  

  On Sunday, Moitra alleged that the SIR was intended to deprive millions of genuine voters who were born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004, adding that it was designed to help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

  Opposition parties, including the Congress, have accused the EC of partisanship, and alleged that the exercise will disenfranchise millions of marginalised voters, especially Dalits. They have even led representations to the commission last week. 

  In its statements, the EC has said that it will adhere scrupulously to the constitutional and legal provisions while carrying out the revision of electoral rolls. It has pointed to the provisions as laid down in Article 326 of the Constitution and Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The last intensive revision for Bihar was conducted by the poll body in 2003.

The EC has maintained that almost 100,000 booth level officers (BLOs), along with 154,977 booth level agents (BLAs) of political parties, are carrying out the exercise to distribute enumeration forms to 79.6 million registered electors of Bihar. Of these, 49.6 million names are in the last intensive revision on January 1, 2003, and they will be verified by filling the enumeration form and submitting it.

  According to the EC, electors whose enumeration forms are not received by July 25 will be deleted from the rolls. Pleas against deletions can be filed and contested between August 1 to September 1. While the EC is yet to provide an exact number of electors who will be required to furnish proof of citizenship, about 30 million electors have been added to electoral rolls in Bihar since 2003. They have to submit one of 11 EC-specified documents, but Aadhaar and ration cards will not be valid. The BLOs are currently conducting house-to-house surveys for verification during the process of this intensive revision.

  In its petition, the ADR, a citizen’s group that studies electoral practices, has challenged the SIR claiming that it violates Articles 14, 19, 21, 325, and 326 of the Constitution and Representation of People’s Act, 1950. The ADR has alleged that the move will shift the onus of being on the voters’ list from the State to citizens. It has also flagged that EC’s exclusion of identification documents such as Aadhar or ration cards, adds to the threat of exclusion of the marginalised. 

  The ADR has said that the EC has issued an unreasonable and impractical timeline to conduct the SIR just months ahead of Assembly elections, slated to be held in October-November. “There are millions of citizens, whose names did not appear in the 2003 revision, who do not possess the documents as required under the SIR order, there are many who may be able to procure the documents but the short timeline mentioned in directive may preclude them from being able to supply the same within the time period,” the ADR said in its petition.

  It also argued that in Bihar, a state with high poverty and migration rates, many lack access to documents like birth certificates or parental records. According to the ADR, Special Summary Revision (SSR) was already conducted between October 29, 2024 and January 6, 2025, which addressed issues such as migration and ineligible voters due to death or other reasons. “Thus, there is no reason for such a drastic exercise in a poll-bound state in such a short period of time, violating the right to vote of millions of voters,” it said.

  On Sunday, the EC maintained that the exercise was being conducted smoothly with the support of people and political parties, and it has distributed almost all enumeration forms, and received 21 per cent of these.