Amid concerns raised by several political parties over the special intensive revision of Bihar’s electoral roll, the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday assured that the exercise is being carried out in a structured, phased, and transparent manner to ensure all eligible citizens are included.
The EC held a detailed interaction with representatives of opposition parties—including the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, DMK, NCP (Sharad Pawar), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPI(M), CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI, and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray)—to address their apprehensions. Officials said they had “decoded” every step of the process to clarify doubts.
According to the Commission, the first phase, running from June 25 to July 3, involves printing and distributing enumeration forms to Bihar’s nearly 7.9 crore electors. Approximately 78,000 booth-level officers (BLOs) have been deployed to deliver partially pre-filled forms door-to-door to voters listed in the rolls as of June 24. Booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties are allowed to submit up to 50 certified forms daily.
In the second phase, voters are expected to complete and return the enumeration forms by July 25. To facilitate this, around four lakh volunteers will assist alongside BLOs.
Those already listed on the electoral roll as of January 1, 2003, need only submit the filled form and a roll extract without additional documentation. Others must provide one of 11 specified documents to verify their date and place of birth. Physical forms will be accepted by electoral registration officers, while an online submission facility has also been launched to streamline the process.
The third phase will see the publication of the draft electoral roll on August 1, including names of all voters who submitted forms on time. Entries without forms submitted by July 25 will be excluded from the draft list.
From August 1 to September 1, the claims and objections period will be open for electors to request additions or corrections. During this time, BLAs may continue to submit up to 10 forms daily. Officials stressed that no deletion from the rolls will occur without proper verification and an opportunity for affected individuals to be heard.
Finally, the EC confirmed the updated electoral roll will be published on September 30. Recognized political parties will receive free copies, and the rolls will be made available on the Commission’s website for public access.
(This story is published from a syndicated feed)