Bihar electoral roll controversy: EC claims enumeration forms of 91.69% voters received

File Photo: A Booth Level Officer (BLO) checks documents during Special Investigation Revision to electoral roll Drive at Jogbani, a municipal council area of Araria District in Bihar on July 08, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

After the conclusion of the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral roll on July 25, the Election Commission (EC) on Sunday said that it has received enumeration forms of 91.69 per cent (or 7.24 crore) voters. As many as 36 lakh people were either not found or have permanently shifted from their previous addresses.

Booth-level officers did not find these electors or get back their enumeration forms because they have either become voters in other states or Union territories, or were not found in existence, or did not submit the forms till July 25, the EC said in a statement.

It has also listed those voters’ unwilling to register themselves as voters for some reason or the other as a factor for not finding 36 lakh voters.

The EC also pointed out that out of 7.89 crore total electors as on June 24, as many as 7 lakh voters were found to have enrolled themselves at more than one place. The exact status of these voters will be known after a scrutiny of these forms by August 1, it said.

“However, genuine electors can still be added back in electoral rolls during the Claims and Objection period from August 1 to September 1. The name of the electors found enrolled at multiple places in electoral rolls will be retained only at one place,” the EC said.

The SIR in Bihar has become a political issue as the Opposition parties have objected to the timing of the decision just before the election scheduled to be held in October while the ruling coalition BJP-JD(U) has been defending the EC.

Published on July 27, 2025