Explained: Why Election Commission's special revision of Bihar voter list has kicked up a political storm

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued instructions for holding Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar. This means electoral rolls for Bihar will be prepared afresh.

The move has sparked a political row, with the Congress opposing it, saying it risks the willful exclusion of voters using the state machinery. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the move “more dangerous than NRC (National Register of Citizens)” and alleged that her state, which heads to polls next year, was the real ‘target’.

What is the revision exercise?

The Election Commission “may at any time… direct a special revision of the electoral roll for any constituency or part of a constituency in such manner as it may think fit,” according to Section 21(3) of The Representation of the People Act, 1950.

The revision of rolls can be carried out “either intensively or summarily or partly intensively and partly summarily, as the (ECI) may direct,” as per The Registration of Electors’ Rules, 1960. In an intensive revision, the electoral roll is prepared afresh and in a summary revision, the roll is amended.

In its 'SIR' order issued on June 24, the poll panel said that the summary revisions of electoral rolls take place every year, and a special summary revision is carried out before each Lok Sabha and Assembly election.

Intensive revisions have been carried out in 1952-56, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1983-84, 1987-89, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003 and 2004, the poll panel said.

Why revision in Bihar?

All electors must submit an enumeration form, and those registered after 2003 have to additionally provide documentation establishing their citizenship, as per the guidelines and schedule specified by the Commission.

The Election Commission said that the intensified revision's objective is to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll so as to enable them to exercise their franchise, that no ineligible voter is included in the electoral roll, and that complete transparency is introduced in the process of adding or deleting electors in the electoral roll.

“Various reasons such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of an intensive revision so as to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls,” the poll panel said.

The last intensive revision for Bihar was conducted by the Commission in year 2003.

The commission said this 'special intensive revision' of rolls, or SIR, will eventually cover all states and Union Territories. The process in Bihar, where Assembly elections are due before November, began on June 25 and will end with the publication of the final electoral roll on September 30, as per the timeline issued by the poll panel.

Door-to-door survey

In the provess, the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are conducting a house-to-house survey for verification during the process of this intensive revision.

In the previous special intensive revisions, BLOs would go house to house with an ‘enumeration pad’ to be filled by the head of a household.

This time, however, each voter in a household will have to submit an individual enumeration form. Voters added to the electoral rolls after January 1, 2003 — the year of the last intensive revision — must provide proof of citizenship.

The ECI’s Form 6, which registers new electors, requires applicants to sign a declaration that they are citizens, and not furnish documentation proving the fact. The ECI has now added a new declaration form requiring proof of citizenship for the special roll revision exercise in Bihar.

Documents such as passport, birth certificate, SC/ST certificate, an extract of one’s parents’ name in the electoral roll of Bihar as of January 1, 2003 will be considered as a sufficient documents to prove citizenship.

The other documents are pension payment order, permanent residence certificate, national register of citizens, family register by local authorities, land allotment certificate, to name a few.

The political row

The Congress has opposed the revision exercise, saying it risks the willful exclusion of voters using the state machinery. In a statement, the Congress' empowered action group of leaders and experts (EAGLE) said the EC's revision of electoral rolls is a cure worse than the disease.

AICC general secretary Organisation KC Venugopal shared the statement on X and said, “The INC opposes the devious Special Intensive Revision exercise ordered by the ECI for Bihar.” In the statement, the leaders said that by undertaking the revision in Bihar and some other states, the EC has admitted that all is not well with India's electoral rolls.

The group said the Congress party firmly opposes the EC's SIR proposal for the Bihar state elections and subsequently in other states.

‘Discarding current electoral rolls’

The revision means that the EC will visit every household and re-enrol every eligible voter in Bihar after verifying identity and residential documents, the group said. In simple terms, the poll panel wants to discard the current electoral rolls entirely and create a fresh new electoral roll for the state.

This is a clear and explicit admission by the EC that all is not well with India's electoral rolls, the Congress said. It is exactly what the Congress party and the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, have been repeatedly pointing out with evidence from Maharashtra, it added.

Bihar is going to the polls this year, while assembly polls in five other states -- Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are scheduled in 2026.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has alleged that the Election Commission of India is targeting Bengal's youth under the guise of a new voter list verification process.

"This is very concerning. They have introduced a declaration form for getting your name on the voter list. For those born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004, a new declaration form must be submitted along with the parents' birth certificates to enrol their names in the voters' list. The ECI says that parents' birth certificates must be submitted. What is going on in the name of full enumeration? This is a document and declaration form from the ECI. There are many irregularities," Banerjee told reporters.

'More dangerous than NRC'

Banerjee said rural people will be left out because of the revision. "And then you will include names of 'borrowed' voters to increase the list. This is because you are losing. Just because you will lose, you will add names from other States. This is more dangerous than NRC," she said.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief accused the BJP and the ECI of working in tandem and "targeting Bengal and its people."

"What about those born before 1987? How will poor people get documents? Are they doing this to establish the NRC? What is their intention? You are targeting people born between 1987 and 2004," she asked.

RJD MP Manoj Jha said that the exercise will make voter enrolment very complicated. “A person working in Surat who is a voter in Bihar may not have any documents like a birth certificate. This will complicate matters. This is why we fear that it is an attempt to invisibilise voters or add something from instructions of someone. That is what needs to be clarified by the EC,” Jha said.

(With PTI inputs)