The Election Commission of India (ECI) is poised to publish the final electoral rolls for Bihar today, concluding the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise that has dominated headlines ahead of the state's assembly elections. Launched on June 24 after a 22-year hiatus—the last full revision occurred in 2003—the process aimed to update voter records by adding eligible names and removing duplicates or ineligible entries from the state's nearly 8 crore electorate.
Draft rolls were released on August 1, followed by a month-long window for claims and objections until September 1, during which over 23,557 submissions were received, with 741 resolved by mid-August. This revision, the first of its scale since the early 2000s, has been hailed by the ECI as a safeguard against inaccuracies but lambasted by opponents as a tool for potential disenfranchisement, particularly in a polarised political landscape where Bihar's 243-seat assembly term expires on November 22.
The SIR unfolded under a cloud of legal and political controversy, with petitioners arguing it risked mass exclusion of genuine voters, especially from marginalised groups. Multiple opposition parties, including Congress and RJD, challenged the timing—mere months before polls—as suspicious, alleging it targeted poor, minority, and migrant communities likely to back anti-incumbent forces.
Data from investigations, such as those by The Reporters' Collective, revealed alarming patterns: in the Dhaka constituency (East Champaran), over 78,000 Muslim voters faced deletion attempts filed under BJP-affiliated names, with forms bearing identical handwriting and questionable addresses linking to a single individual, Pawan Jaiswal. Similar anomalies surfaced elsewhere, prompting fears of systemic bias. The ECI, however, insists the exercise is neutral, emphasising its commitment to "en masse inclusion" over exclusion and dismissing claims as baseless, urging critics like Rahul Gandhi to submit affidavits.
The dispute escalated to the Supreme Court in July, where a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia, Surya Kant, and Joymalya Bagchi refused an interim stay but imposed safeguards. On July 10, the court directed the ECI to accept Aadhaar, Voter ID (EPIC), and ration cards as valid proofs alongside the original 11 documents, overruling concerns about forgery risks. Subsequent hearings in August mandated publishing lists of the 65 lakh voters dropped from the January 2025 rolls, with reasons for deletions, and allowed post-September 1 claims to prevent arbitrary removals.
The bench warned it would not hesitate to scrap the final list if irregularities emerge, framing the issue as a clash between the ECI's constitutional mandate and voters' fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, and 21. The next hearing is slated for October 7, just as campaigning intensifies, potentially delaying or altering the poll process.
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Opposition leaders have mobilised aggressively against the SIR, framing it as "vote theft" in collusion with the ruling NDA. Rahul Gandhi cited data from multiple districts showing disproportionate deletions in opposition strongholds, while RJD's Tejashwi Yadav led a "Voter Adhikar Yatra" to rally support and expose discrepancies—like his own alleged erroneous removal, later debunked by the ECI as a fake EPIC. AIMIM MLA Akhtarul Iman joined petitions, arguing the exercise fuels anti-incumbency suppression. The ECI rebutted these as politically motivated, pointing to party complaints that initially prompted the revision.
As the final list—expected to add around 14 lakh new voters—rolls out via the Chief Electoral Officer's portal, social media buzz reflects public anxiety, with users querying release timelines and sharing local deletion horror stories. The assembly poll schedule, anticipated next week after the ECI's Patna visit on October 4-5, will unfold in two or three phases by late November, testing Bihar's democratic resilience.
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