The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday announced that nearly 95 percent of Bihar’s electorate has been accounted for in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
With a week remaining in the revision process, 94.68 percent of electors have been covered, according to a statement released by the Commission.
As of June 24, enumeration forms have been received for 7,11,72,660 electors out of Bihar’s total of 7,89,69,844. That marks a coverage rate of 90.12 percent. Of those forms, 6,85,34,743 — or 86.79 percent — have already been digitised.
The Commission said 4.67 percent of electors were marked as “not found at their addresses.” These include:
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12,71,414 individuals likely deceased
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18,16,306 who appear to have permanently shifted
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5,92,273 listed at multiple addresses
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6,978 who remain completely untraceable
Party Verification Underway
Lists of these flagged entries are now being circulated to political parties and their local representatives. Around 1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) from various parties are expected to verify these entries on the ground.
Each BLA can submit up to 50 verified forms per day. The verification process is scheduled to conclude by July 25.
Draft Roll Coming August 1
Once verification ends, draft electoral rolls will be published by Electoral Registration Officers on August 1. From then, the public and political parties will have one full month to raise objections or suggest corrections.
Printed and digital copies of the draft list will be distributed to recognised political parties at no cost. The roll will also be made available on the ECI’s website.
Final Publication on September 30
After resolving all claims and objections by September 25, the final electoral roll will be published on September 30. That list will again be shared with political parties and uploaded online.
So what happens if a voter thinks an official got it wrong? The law gives them a direct path to fight back. They can take their case directly to the District Magistrate or the state’s Chief Electoral Officer.
The Election Commission says this right to appeal is a crucial part of their effort to make sure the final voter list is as clean and accurate as possible for the upcoming state elections.
