Nearly 30,000 voters in Bihar have reapplied after being deleted from the draft electoral roll; 13.33 lakh new 18+ electors have also enrolled.
The Election Commission struck off 65 lakh names in the draft stage, citing reasons like deceased, shifted, untraceable, or duplicate registrations.
New citizenship proof rules for voters registered after 2003 have sparked controversy and are under Supreme Court review; final rolls will be published on September 30.
The EC’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) began in June, requiring all 7.89 crore registered voters in Bihar to fill out fresh enumeration forms by July 25. When the draft roll was published on August 1, it showed a reduced total of 7.24 crore electors, with 65 lakh names struck off on grounds of being deceased, permanently shifted, untraceable, or registered in multiple places.
According to PTI, The Commission opened a claims and objections window (August 1–September 1) for citizens who believed their names were wrongly excluded or who spotted ineligible voters on the rolls.
By Saturday, the EC confirmed receiving 29,872 inclusion claims and 1,97,764 objections for exclusion. Around 33,771 cases have already been disposed of.
Political parties were also engaged in the process through their Booth Level Agents (BLAs). Bihar’s 1.60 lakh BLAs submitted a modest 103 objections and 25 inclusion requests.
According to The Hindu, A controversial element of this revision is the mandatory proof of citizenship for electors registered after 2003. Applicants must now provide documents verifying their date and place of birth, and those born after July 1, 1987 must also furnish parental proof of birth details.
This move aligns with the Citizenship Act, 1955 but marks a departure from earlier practice, where a self-declaration of citizenship sufficed. The order has already been challenged in the Supreme Court, with hearings scheduled for September 1.
