Ahead of Bihar elections, ECI to make BIG revisions in electoral rolls, will conduct house-to-house verifications of..., opposition reacts

Starting from Bihar, the Election commission of India has announced a special voter verification drive in Bihar ahead of the assembly elections scheduled for October-November. ECI has initiated Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and will conduct house-to-house verifications of new and existing voters. This is done to keep a check on the names on voter list and remove any ineligible voters. Through SIR, ECI aims to remove any illegal immigrants from the voter's list.

ECI has cited that this action is taken just months before Bihar Elections, as it is necessary to ensure that legal Indian citizens have the right to vote in elections. Also it ensures a check on voter's list, that may get changed due to rapid urbanization, frequent migration and presence of illegal foreign immigrants.

ECI makes these documents necessary

ECI has made it mandatory to submit a 'self-attested declaration' sating they are Indian citizens. It is must to submit documents to prove their date and place of birth.  If any citizen is born before 1987, they have to submit similar documents of their parents. Documents required are Birth certificate, passport,  matriculation certificates, Pension or government ID before 1 July 1987, land or house allotment papers by government, etc.)

1. People born before 1 July 1987, must give one document to prove date and time of birth. They have to also submit a pre-filled enumeration form
2.  People born between 1 July 1987 and 2 December 2004 must show one document establishing date of birth and place of birth, for themselves and another for either parent.
3. People born after 2 December 2004, need to show documents for themselves and both parents. If one parent is not Indian, their passport and visa from that time must also be shown.

The state election officer has stated that the SIR directives are detailed and the documents will be collected by booth level officers (BLOs). The house-to-house verification has begun in Bihar and will be done till 26 July.

As per reports, EC plans to conduct a similar review in five other states, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The assembly elections in these states are scheduled in 2026.

Opposition against revision of electoral rolls

Currently, Bihar has National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Nitish Kumar (Janata Dal (United) party) as the Chief Minister. The opposition parties like he Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and CPI-ML (Liberation) have opposed the ECI's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ahead of Bihar elections. They argues that this exercise is unacceptable, as lakhs of families in the Bihar do not have documents. They will not be able to produce the documents that establish their place of birth or date of birth for inclusion in the electoral rolls, as demanded by ECI. They claimed it to be a 'conspiracy'. This exercise will deprive lakhs of electors from voting in the elections. Moreover, the timing of this exercise is also questioned. Opposition argues that Bihar is a big state with huge population and this exercise will not be completed within a month.

As per reports, the opposition Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) comprising of  Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, CPIML, CPI, CPM and the Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP), also met Bihar Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vinod Singh Gunjiyal, on Wednesday.