Amid protests, the Election Commission (EC) on Friday came out with the much-anticipated ‘draft electoral rolls’ in Bihar, enlisting 7.24 crore voters but knocking off more than 65 lakh names, claiming that most of the persons concerned had died or migrated. The draft electoral rolls, prepared as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which has caused much controversy as the exercise was ordered with just a few months left for assembly polls, are available for voters online.
The publication of the draft rolls kicked off the process of “claims and objections”. Till September 1, voters with complaints of wrongful deletion of names can approach the authorities concerned, seeking a remedy. Patna, which houses the state capital, accounted for the highest number of 50.04 lakh voters registered “as on 24.06.2025” and the district also saw submission of 46.51 lakh “enumeration forms”, the maximum in the State.
Patna accounted for the highest number of 3.95 lakh enumeration forms that were not included, followed by Madhubani (3.52 lakh), East Champaran (3.16 lakh), Gopalganj (3.10 lakh), Samastipur (2.83 lakh), Muzaffarpur (2.82 lakh), Purnia (2.739 lakh), Saran (2.732 lakh), Sitamarhi (2.44 lakh), Katihar (1.84 lakh) and Kishanganj (1.45 lakh) according to the EC.
In Sheikhpura district, only 26,256 enumeration forms were not included in the draft roll, while the number was 28,166 in Sheohar, 30,180 in Arwal, 74,916 in Munger and 79,551 in Khagaria. Before the start of the SIR, the number of registered voters in the state had been stated to be 7,89,69,844. However, the EC claimed that 22,34,501 people, registered in the electoral rolls, were found to be dead during the exercise. Another 36.28 lakh have “permanently shifted” out of the state or were “not found” at their stated addresses and another 7.01 lakh have been found enrolled at “more than one place”.
The EC has also said it was making available printed copies, district wise, to representatives of political parties so that anomalies, if any, could be flagged during the ‘claims and objections’ phase, which would continue till September 1 before the ‘final rolls’ are published.
The EC stated, “In their endeavour to reach each village, each ward, each house and add the name of each eligible elector to the draft Electoral Roll, the CEO of Bihar, DEOs of all 38 districts, electoral registration officers (EROs) of all 243 assembly constituencies, 2,976 AEROs, booth-level officers (BLOs) of 90,712 polling booths, lakhs of volunteers and the 1.60 booth-level agents (BLAs) nominated by all the 12 major political parties have carried out the task with full responsibility.”
According to the Commission, the publication of the draft electoral rolls marked the beginning of the “claims and objections” phase, which will run until September 1. During this period, voters, who believe their names were wrongly deleted, can approach the relevant authorities to get the same corrected, it added.
The EC has said, there were 7.93 crore registered voters in Bihar before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process began late last month. Before the start of the SIR, the number of registered voters in the state had been stated to be around 7.9 crore. As per SIR orders, no name can be deleted from the electoral list by the concerned ERO/AERO without giving a hearing to the elector and subsequently passing a written order, which are appealable to the DM and the CEO.
In the state capital, Opposition parties such as Congress and the RJD that have been alleging that the exercise was aimed at “helping the ruling NDA in the assembly elections”, voiced their dissatisfaction with the details shared in the draft electoral rolls. Senior Congress leader Brajesh Prasad Munan met the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar and handed over a memorandum in which a number of queries were raised, including the demand for figures on “how many enumeration forms were accepted without any requisite documents or photographs” and the number of new voters added during SIR.The Congress memorandum also sought to know “how many electors, across the state, were identified as illegal immigrants from other countries and whether their names have been struck off the voters’ list”.The party also sought to know how many forms were “rejected” by BLOs because of technical reasons.
Likewise, RJD’s state unit spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan also submitted a memorandum to the CEO demanding that the “electoral rolls be provided assembly segment wise in a pen-drive”.The RJD memorandum also sought to know which documents were collected from respective family members before concluding that a voter had died.
Notably, the BJP, which rules the Centre and shares power in Bihar, has been claiming that a significant number of Bangladesh nationals and Rohingyas have been living in the state, especially the Seemanchal region bordering Nepal and West Bengal.
Earlier in the day, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said in a message to voters, “The draft electoral rolls of Bihar are being published on Friday, August 1, at https://voters.eci.gov.in/download.” He went on to add: “Physical as well as digital copies will also be given to all recognised political parties in Bihar in all 38 Districts by all the 38 District Election Officers (DEOs) of Bihar.”
Since the session began on July 21, the Opposition’s protest against the SIR and demand that it be discussed in Parliament has forced almost uninterrupted adjournments of the two Houses, barring the debate on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor stretching for two productive days. The Opposition is likely to press its demand again on Monday and at the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee, which decides the agenda, of the two Houses.
Criticising the Opposition over disruption of Parliament, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday cited a ruling by former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar that Parliament cannot discuss the functioning of Election Commission, amid the Opposition’s demand for a debate on SIR in the two Houses. Rijiju said the SIR is part of the Election Commission’s mandate. “This is not the first time the EC is doing it. Whether Parliament can discuss the EC’s administrative work or not is for the Chair to decide in accordance with rules,” he added.
He noted that a minister related to the issue in discussion generally replies to the concerns raised by members, and wondered who could do so in the case of the Election Commission, a constitutionally autonomous body. What is not favoured by rules and convention cannot be discussed, he said.