Kalpana Bora
(kalpana.bora@gmail.com)
Elections – the most celebrated festival of democracy!
On August 1, 2025, the Election Commission of India (ECI) released the draft voters’ roll for Bihar after the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. More than 65 lakh names were left out in Bihar’s draft electoral rolls. Patna alone accounts for 3.95 lakh missing voters, followed by East Champaran, Madhubani and Gopalganj. Around 35 lakh were found to have permanently migrated or were untraceable, 22 lakh were reported dead, and 7 lakh were registered in more than one constituency (one cannot be a voter in two places). Another 1.2 lakh voters didn’t submit forms at all. The publication of the draft electoral rolls also marks the beginning of the “claims and objections” phase, which will run until September 1, 2025. During this period, voters who believe their names were wrongly deleted can approach the relevant authorities for redressal.
Vidhansabha (Legislative Assembly) elections are scheduled to be held around October–November this year in Bihar. The ECI is drawing up a voter roll from scratch in a massive exercise that demands that voters in the state fill enumeration forms and provide documentary evidence of their citizenship. As the first step, the Election Commission distributed pre-filled enumeration forms to 7.89 crore voters in Bihar whose names appeared in the voter list as it existed on June 24, 2025. The ECI directive of June 24, 2025, requires voters not listed in the 2003 electoral roll to submit documents proving their citizenship. Those born after December 2004 must also furnish the citizenship documents of both parents.
Between June 25 and July 26, 2025, booth-level officers (BLOs, appointed by political parties) distributed enumeration forms to voters and collected them once they had been filled, along with their documents proving identity and citizenship. Voters also had the option of downloading and submitting the forms online. The process was supervised by 243 Electors Registration Officers (EROs) and nearly 3,000 assistant EROs. More than 1.6 lakh booth-level agents and other volunteers were involved in the data-gathering, participative operation. Voters can verify their status on the official website. It was assured to “re-verify” the voters who have not been found at their addresses even after three BLO visits and that their information would be shared with district presidents of political parties. The ECI said that the exercise has covered all 243 assembly constituencies and 90,817 polling stations and was shared with political parties.
The SIR has drawn criticism from opposition parties, and petitions were filed in the Supreme Court (SC). However, the SC bench said, “We are most loath to interfere with the Election Commission of India.” On July 10, the Supreme Court (SC) allowed the SIR to continue and did not pass any interim order of stay. “This issue is very important. It goes to the very roots of our democracy. “It is about the right to vote,” Justice Dhulia observed. ECI claimed the allegations of opposition parties of fraud in the voter list as baseless. The monsoon session in the Parliament was adjourned due to protests by opposition parties. This harms the nation due to the loss of precious legislative working time, as many constructive works for the citizens could have been done during that time. The leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha even threatened the ECI. “Giving anti-national statements and disrupting Parliament is unacceptable,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.
An analysis by some agencies showed that six of the ten Bihar districts with the biggest share of Muslim population had the highest number of pending enumeration forms as of July 16, 2025. This includes all four districts in the Seemanchal region – Araria, Kishanganj, Purnia and Katihar – as well as the Sitamarhi and East Champaran districts. ECI also stated that “some categories of voters are particularly vulnerable (in the SIR).”
Why has an SIR been initiated by ECI?
ECI has decided to conduct an SIR of electoral rolls of the entire country. Let’s see what the Constitution of India has to say about the election process. Article 324(1) of our Constitution states –
“The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of all elections to Parliament and to the Legislative of every state and of elections to the offices of President and Vice-President held under this Constitution, including the appointment of election tribunals for the decision of doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with elections to Parliament and to the Legislative of the state, shall be vested in a Commission (referred to in this Constitution as the Election Commission).”
Article 326 of our Constitution provides that any citizen more than 21 (now 18) years of age shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such election. Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RP Act), disqualifies a non-citizen from being registered in the electoral roll. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi for ECI argued in the Supreme Court, “The Aadhaar Act clearly says it is not proof of citizenship. The ECI cannot exalt the status of the Aadhaar.”
The ECI stated that Aadhaar was only a document to authenticate identity and not citizenship. Aadhaar was also issued to non-citizens who were ordinarily resident in a place. Section 20 of the RP Act provides the meaning of the term ‘ordinarily resident’. It specifies that a person shall not be deemed to be ‘ordinarily resident’ in a constituency simply because he/she owns or possesses a dwelling house in such constituency. ECI noticed that during the last 20 years, due to rapid urbanisation and migration, there have been large-scale additions and deletions in the electoral rolls. And the Constitution of India entitles the ECI to make sure that only citizens of India are enrolled in the electoral rolls. Therefore, ECI started an SIR for the entire country. Since Bihar Legislative elections are due in November this year, they have started the process with Bihar. The ECI counsel said the SIR in Bihar was necessary, as the last intensive look at the voters’ list in the state was done in 2003. The ECI said, “In the past decade 70 lakh people have migrated from Bihar. This itself makes a strong case for SIR.” Since 2003, 22 years have passed, and two decades is a really long time for the prospective electoral roll to change! For those electors who are already enrolled in SIR done in 2003, no documents are required to be submitted. However, those electors who are registered after SIR of 2003 need to submit their documents for establishing their date and place of birth for themselves and their parents.
More Aadhaars than Population?
In Seemanchal districts of Bihar that are Muslim-dominated, like Kishanganj, Katihar, Araria, and Purnia, the number of Aadhaars is more than the population! Bihar’s average Aadhaar saturation stands at 94%. However, the percentage of the Muslim population and Aadhaars saturation in these Seemanchal districts are shocking (as projected in various media platforms).
- Kishanganj (68% Muslim) – 126% Aadhaar saturation; Katihar (44% Muslim) – 123% Aadhaar; Araria (43% Muslim) – 123% Aadhaar; and Purnia (38% Muslim) – 121% Aadhaar.
That means, per 100 people, more than 120 Aadhaars in these areas? How can that be even possible? This phenomenon is occurring mostly in Muslim-dominated areas! This also explains why some opposition political parties are so eager to push Aadhaar as proof of citizenship! Migration could be one reason for more numbers of Aadhaar than population. There is also the possibility of fraudulent cases of generating Aadhaars for illegal immigrants.
Therefore, it is observed that to have an authentic voters list that includes only citizens as per the Constitution of India, SIR is indispensable to take care of people who may have migrated, are diseased, orare illegal immigrants (not legal citizens of the country) – in a sense, sanitisation of the voters’ list! Citizenship is the main criterion which makes one eligible to be a voter to vote in the election. Thus, the SIR of the voters’ list truly serves as oxygen to democracy, and we, the Rashtrangas (Anga of Rashtra, i.e., citizens) of Bharat, should welcome and extend our full support and cooperation in this exercise!