Bihar Assembly Elections: ECI mulls intensive house-to-house verification, here's why

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly Polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is mulling an intensive house-to-house verification during the upcoming electoral roll revision, reported PTI quoting ECI sources.

According to the report, the ECI is planning the verification to make the Electoral Rolls completely robust and free of any kind of errors.

This is not the first time when ECI has done rigorous revision of the electoral rolls. The last such exercise was undertaken in the year 2004, ECI sources said.

Earlier, various civil society organisations, political parties and agencies have raised their concerns regarding the inclusion or deletion of names of the electors in the Electoral Rolls.

Regular exercise of revision:

The Election Commission of India has repeatedly emphasised that it is committed to ensuring that only genuine and eligible citizens are enrolled in the electoral rolls.

Regular exercise of revision of the Electoral Rolls is undertaken annually throughout the country by the ECI and also before the holding of Elections/Bye-polls by the ECI.

Constitutional and legal frameworks are also quite clear and robust in this regard. The provisions regarding eligibility to be registered as a voter and disqualifications for registration in an electoral roll are clearly laid down in Article 326 of the Constitution of India and Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 respectively.

Why is there a need for constant updation?

The need for constant updation of the electoral rolls arises due to various reasons, such as migration/shifting of electors.

"The country continuously witnesses inter-state, intra-state, inter-district and intra-district migration due to reasons such as marriage, job opportunities, education, family requirements etc. For instance, during the year 2024 as per forms received by the ECI, 46.26 lakh persons shifted their residence, 2.32 crore applied for corrections and 33.16 lakh requested for replacement. Thus, in a single year, nearly 3.15 crore changes were required to be made across the country," ECI sources said.

Deletion of names of dead electors:

The number of deletions of dead voters is much lower compared to the registered deaths since the families do not approach the ECI for deletion of names of their kin.

Also, another reason for constant updating is the addition of the names of young electors attaining the age of 18 years. It also includes corrections in the elector details such as names, photographs or address.

Among other reasons for constant updation are rationalisation of polling stations as ECI wants to ensure no elector has to travel for more than 2 kilometers to cast their vote, and subsequent deletion names of foreign illegal immigrants in the electoral rolls.

With agency inputs.