Congress: Why Won’t Election Commission Reveal Number of Non-Citizens Removed in Bihar?

The Congress party intensified its criticism of the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral rolls on Tuesday, accusing the poll body of lacking "integrity or courage" in disclosing the number of non-citizens removed from the voter list. General Secretary Jairam Ramesh highlighted this opacity in a pointed statement on X, arguing that transparency on the issue would further expose the Commission's alleged biases. The remarks come ahead of the Supreme Court's resumption of hearings on challenges to the SIR process, fuelling opposition claims of a flawed exercise designed to disenfranchise vulnerable voters just weeks before the state assembly elections.

Ramesh shared an analysis from a leading newspaper, which critiqued the SIR for shortcomings in completeness, equity, accuracy, and fairness, despite Supreme Court interventions mitigating mass exclusions. "This fine analysis shows that the entire SIR exercise bulldozed through by the Election Commission has failed on all three counts of completeness, equity, and accuracy," he wrote. He questioned the rationale behind the revision, noting, "Much was made of the need of the SIR exercise to remove non-citizens from the electoral roll," but lamented the absence of data: "The EC has not had the integrity or the courage to enlighten the country on how many such non-citizens in Bihar were removed from the voter list."

Sources in the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer's office, cited in media reports, indicated that nearly 99% of deletions—totalling around 68.5 lakh from an initial 7.89 crore electors—stemmed from deaths, migrations, and duplications, leaving a negligible fraction potentially attributable to citizenship issues.

Launched on June 24, 2025, after a 22-year gap, the SIR required all voters to submit verification forms, including post-2003 registrants proving citizenship, sparking widespread protests from the opposition INDIA bloc, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress. They alleged the timing—mere months before polls—targeted minorities and migrant workers, with fears of excluding up to 75 lakh labourers who seasonally relocate. Petitions in the Supreme Court, including one claiming RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav's name was erroneously dropped, prompted interim orders for publishing deleted names and accepting documents like Aadhaar for verification.

The final roll, released on September 30, lists 7.42 crore electors, incorporating 21.53 lakh new additions and 3.66 lakh further deletions post-draft. However, the EC has not released a religious or citizenship-based breakdown, hindering verification of disenfranchisement claims, particularly in Muslim-majority districts like Kishanganj, where deletions were notably high.

Also Read: Final Bihar Voter List Released Today Amid Supreme Court Review

The Election Commission has firmly rejected accusations of partisanship, asserting the SIR aligns with Article 326 of the Constitution to ensure "no eligible voter is left out, and no ineligible person is included." In a recent press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar emphasised probes into enumeration forms for citizenship verification while providing searchable lists of deletions via district websites. Yet, opposition voices, amplified by Rahul Gandhi's 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in August, portray the process as a tool for the ruling NDA—comprising Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and BJP—to manipulate outcomes.

With Bihar's 243 seats up for grabs in two phases on November 6 and 11, and counting on November 14, the controversy underscores deepening distrust in electoral integrity, potentially galvanising turnout among marginalised groups while pressuring the Commission for greater accountability.

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