Voter roll updates before polls are legal requirement: CEC Gyanesh Kumar

CEC Gyanesh Kumar has said voter list updates are legally required before elections, amid opposition concerns over the Special Intensive Revision exercise in Bihar

As opposition parties continue to question the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar clarified on Saturday that updating the voter list before every election is a standard legal process.

 

Addressing reporters, Kumar said that the voter list must be updated ahead of every election, as per the law. He explained that such detailed revisions had not been carried out since January 1, 2003.

 

"As part of the law, before every election, the voter list needs to be updated. A detailed investigation of the voter list and all voter details was not conducted after January 1, 2003. This is supposed to be a general practice," he said.

 

 

The CEC also noted that opposition parties themselves had previously raised concerns about inaccuracies in the voter rolls.

 

"Nearly every political party complained about issues in the authenticity of the voter list, and demanded updates. More than 100,000 booth-level officers are working on it with the support of all political parties. No ineligible person will be able to make it into this list," Kumar added.

Bihar polls: Special Intensive Revision

The SIR is a targeted effort by the Election Commission of India to verify and clean the voter list before elections, aiming to ensure its accuracy and legitimacy.

  However, opposition parties have raised questions over the exercise. Congress leader Sachin Pilot, speaking in Rajasthan’s Dausa, voiced doubts about the SIR process and accused the Election Commission of acting in haste.

 

"The haste with which the Election Commission has taken this step raises significant doubts, and a group of opposition parties met them and asked questions, but no satisfactory answers were received," Pilot said.

Fears of voter disenfranchisement

Several opposition parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), fear that the revision process may be used to exclude legitimate voters, particularly those from underprivileged and marginalised communities.

 

In response, the Election Commission maintained that the revision exercise is being conducted in full accordance with Article 326 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The Commission added that the goal is to remove ineligible entries without leaving out any genuine voter.