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12-08-2025
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: A few days ago, India’s Election Commission released updated draft electoral rolls for Bihar state, where key elections are scheduled for November, following a month-long revision of the voters’ list but opposition parties and election charities say the exercise was rushed through and many voters in Bihar have told media that the draft rolls have wrong photos and include dead people.
The Special Intensive Revision, better known by its acronym SIR was held from 25 June to 26 July and the commission said its officials visited each of the state’s listed 78.9 million voters to verify their details. It said the last such revision was in 2003 and an update was necessary.
The new draft rolls have 72.4 million names, 6.5 million fewer than before. The commission says deletions include 2.2 million dead, 700,000 enrolled more than once and 3.6 million who have migrated from the state.
Corrections are open until 1 September, with over 165,000 applications received. A similar review will be conducted nationwide to verify nearly a billion voters but opposition parties have accused the commission of dropping many voters, especially Muslims who make up a sizeable chunk of the population in four border districts – to aid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming state election.
The poll body and BJP have denied the allegations. In response to a questions, the Election Commission shared its 24 June order on conducting the SIR and a 27 July press note outlining efforts to ensure no eligible voter was “left behind”.
“Further, (the commission) does not take any responsibility of any other misinformation or unsubstantiated allegations being floated around by some vested interests,” it added in the response.
The commission has not released the list of deleted names or given any break-up according to religion, so it’s not possible to verify the opposition’s concerns.
A review by Hindustan Times newspaper found high voter deletions in Kishanganj, a district with the largest share of Muslims in Bihar, but not in other Muslim-dominated constituencies.
Parliament has faced repeated adjournments as opposition MPs demand a debate on what they call a threat to democracy. Outside, they chanted “Down down Modi”, “Take SIR back” and “Stop stealing votes”. The Supreme Court is also reviewing the move after watchdog ADR questioned its timing.
“It comes just three months before the assembly elections and there has not been enough time given to the exercise,” Jagdeep Chhokar of ADR, told media.
“As reports from the ground showed, there were irregularities when the exercise was being conducted and the process of data collection was massively faulty,” he added.
The ADR has argued in court that the exercise “will disenfranchise millions of genuine voters” in a state that’s one of India’s poorest and is home to “a large number of marginalized communities”.
It says the SIR shifts the burden onto people to prove their citizenship, often requiring their own and their parents’ documents within a short deadline, an impossible task for millions of poor migrant workers.
While the draft roll was being published, we travelled to Patna and nearby villages to hear what voters think of SIR.
In Danara village, home to the poorest of the poor known as Mahadalits, most residents work on farms of upper-castes or are unemployed.
Homes are crumbling, open drains line the narrow lanes and a stagnant puddle near the local temple has turned brackish.
