Supreme Court asks EC to fix typographical errors in Bihar’s final voter list.
Electoral roll will be frozen on October 17 and 20 ahead of two-phase elections.
Bihar assembly elections to be held on November 6 and 11, counting on November 14.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission (EC) to examine typographical errors and other discrepancies in the final Bihar electoral roll prepared after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, and to implement remedial measures as a responsible authority. The bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, will hear legal issues related to the SIR exercise on November 4.
According to PTI, the EC stated that since publishing the final electoral roll on September 30, no appeals have been filed by any voter regarding name deletions. However, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the NGO ‘Association of Democratic Reforms’, told the court that details provided by a voter claiming his name was missing from the final list were accurate, contrary to the EC’s previous assertion during the October 7 hearing that the claim was fake. He also urged the EC to disclose the number of deletions and the criteria used, to ensure transparency.
The bench noted that the electoral roll is scheduled to be frozen on October 17 for constituencies polling in the first phase, and on October 20 for the second phase. On October 7, the court had asked the EC to provide details of 3.66 lakh voters who were part of the draft voter list but were excluded from the final roll, citing confusion over the matter.
PTI reported that the final electoral roll for Bihar, published on September 30, showed a decrease of nearly 47 lakh electors from 7.89 crore before the SIR, bringing the total to 7.42 crore. Compared with the draft list issued on August 1, which had 7.24 crore electors after removing 65 lakh names due to deaths, migration, and duplication, the final figure represents a net increase of 17.87 lakh voters. This is the result of adding 21.53 lakh new electors while removing 3.66 lakh names.
The Bihar assembly elections are scheduled in two phases, with 121 seats going to polls on November 6 and the remaining 122 constituencies on November 11. Counting of votes will take place on November 14.
(With inputs from PTI)
