EC Publishes Draft Electoral Rolls for Bihar After SIR Amid Opposition Protests

 

By NK Sharma Correspondent Published August 1 2025

New DelhiPatna – The Election Commission of India ECI on August 1 2025 released the draft electoral rolls for Bihar following the completion of its Special Intensive Revision SIR exercise This development comes just months ahead of the critical Bihar Legislative Assembly elections scheduled for October–November 2025 While the ECI maintains that the move was aimed at enhancing electoral integrity it has triggered sharp reactions from the opposition parties who allege that the process could lead to largescale disenfranchisement of voters

 What Is the Special Intensive Revision SIR

 The SIR began on June 24 2025 as a fullscale voter roll cleanup across all 243 assembly constituencies and over 90000 polling stations in Bihar

 According to the ECI the exercise was undertaken to remove duplicate deceased and migrated voters from the rolls while ensuring new eligible voters are added

 All existing voters were required to submit a special enumeration form in person or online along with one of 11 approved documents

 Controversially Aadhaar voter ID cards and ration cards were not accepted as valid documents raising questions about accessibility

 Of the approximately 793 crore voters 723 crore about 917 submitted the forms

 Draft Rolls Released – Whats New

 On August 1 at 300 PM the draft electoral rolls were officially published on the ECI website

 Earlier that day at 1100 AM district election officers shared physical and digital copies of the boothwise lists with all recognized political parties

 This marked the beginning of the claims and objections period which will run until September 1 2025

 According to the ECI no name will be removed from the draft list without a written order and a personal hearing Citizens can file appeals up to the State Chief Electoral Officer CEO

 Massive Deletion of Voter Names

 The ECI confirmed that around 656 lakh names have been removed from the rolls

 2234 lakh deceased voters

 3628 lakh who migrated or were untraceable

 701 lakh duplicate entries

 Districts with the most deletions include Patna 395 lakh names removed followed By NK Sharma Champaran Madhubani and Saran

 The current draft voter roll lists 724 crore voters down from 793 crores

 Oppositions Fierce Protest

 Opposition parties such as the RJD Congress CPIML and SP have expressed outrage over the deletions

 They allege that the SIR is a politically motivated attempt to disenfranchise specific voter groups including minorities and migrants

 On July 31 opposition MPs disrupted Parliament demanding a debate on the issue

 A joint letter was sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking intervention and a detailed discussion

 Union Minister Kiren Rijiju rejected the demand stating that electionrelated matters fall under the Election Commissions autonomous jurisdiction

 Supreme Court Observations

 The issue reached the Supreme Court in late July via multiple petitions

 Petitioners alleged irregularities such as

 Inclusion of deceased voters in the forms

 Forgery or mass submission of forms without the voters knowledge

 Denial of legitimate documents like Aadhaar

 The Court refused to halt the publication of draft rolls but instructed the ECI to consider alternate documents and avoid mass exclusion

 Hearings are scheduled again for August 12–13

 ECIs Defense Cleaning the Rolls is Essential

 Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar defended the process saying

 Our goal is to ensure a clean and credible voter roll Every claim and objection will be properly heard No name will be deleted without due process

 The ECI also claimed the SIR was conducted with transparency aided By NK Sharma BLAs and participation from political parties

 Next Steps Claim Objection Period Aug 1 – Sep 1

 All citizens and political parties can now file claims for inclusion corrections or objections to names on the draft rolls

 Forms must be submitted to Electoral Registration Officers EROs or their assistants

 New voters turning 18 By NK Sharma 1 2025 must file Form 6 with valid ID proof to be included

 The final voter list will be By NK Sharma Sharma 30 2025

 Allegations of Disenfranchisement

 Opposition leaders allege that the exercise

 Lacks transparency

 Targets marginalized communities especially Muslims and the poor

 Is too complex for rural and uneducated voters

 Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav have both criticized the ECIs document requirements calling them unfair and exclusionary

 Congress announced a 17day statewide campaign from August 9 to raise awareness and fight the deletions

 Public Reaction and GroundLevel Issues

 Several citizens have reported that

 Their names disappeared from the list even though they submitted the form

 They never received confirmation messages or followup

 BLOs filled forms on behalf of voters without signatures or consent

 Social activists have warned that poor Dalit and minority voters are at risk of being left out

 What the Data Reveals

 District Names Removed Primary Reason 

 

 Patna 395 lakh Migrationduplicates 

 East Champaran 361 lakh Deceasedduplicate 

 Madhubani 345 lakh Untraceable voters 

 Saran 311 lakh Migration 

In total around 8 of all previous voters were removed

 Can This Impact the Bihar Elections

Absolutely

 The Bihar Legislative Assembly Election 2025 is expected to be tightly contested between the NDA BJP + JDU and the INDIA bloc RJD Congress Left

 Any largescale disenfranchisement could tilt the balance in crucial constituencies

 The final voter list will determine the electorate size booth setups and logistics directly affecting election strategy and turnout

 Concerns Raised By NK Sharma

 Legal experts have flagged that denying Aadhaar and voter ID cards contradicts past ECI practices

 Policy analysts warn that aggressive purging can undermine trust in democratic processes

 Civil society groups are demanding

 A fresh enumeration drive

 Acceptance of broader ID documents

 More awareness campaigns in rural areas

 Timeline of Events

 Date Event 

 

 June 24 2025 SIR begins 

 July 25 2025 SIR concludes 

 August 1 2025 Draft electoral rolls published 

 August 1 – Sep 1 Claims and objections window 

 August 12–13 Supreme Court hearings 

 September 30 2025 Final voter list to be published 

 Oct–Nov 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections 

 Final Words

As Bihar heads toward a critical election the release of draft electoral rolls after the SIR process has thrown the spotlight on the very foundation of democracy—the right to vote While the Election Commission asserts that the revision is aimed at cleaning the voter list the opposition sees it as a politically motivated purge The next two months—marked By NK Sharma court hearings and political mobilization—will be crucial in determining whether this exercise enhances democratic participation or becomes its greatest obstacle

Source: GetNews24Update.in