September 30, 2025 06:03 PM IST
First published on: Sep 30, 2025 at 05:35 PM IST
The Election Commission has struck off nearly 68.5 lakh names from Bihar’s voter list, with the final roll published Tuesday showing 7.42 crore electors — down 6% from 7.89 crore on June 24 — after a three-month Special Intensive Revision (SIR) that invited criticism for resembling a citizenship check.
According to the Election Commission, in addition to the 65 lakh names marked as deleted at the time of publishing the draft roll, another 3.66 lakh were removed while 21.53 lakh new electors were added. The final tally stands at 7.42 crore voters, a figure communicated to political parties during meetings with district collectors this afternoon, sources told The Indian Express.
The EC had on June 24 ordered an SIR for the whole country, but started with Bihar as Assembly elections are due in the state in November. As per the order, all existing 7.89 crore electors were required to fill enumeration forms and all those registered after 2003, when the last intensive revision was held in the state, were required to submit documents to prove their eligibility, including citizenship.
| Category | Number | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Names Deleted | 65 lakh | Initial deletions at draft roll stage |
| Additional Deleted | 3.66 lakh | Deleted after draft roll publication |
| Total Deletions | 68.5 lakh | Combined (initial + additional) |
| Names Added | 21.53 lakh | New electors before final roll |
| Net Change | -47 lakh | Total drop in voter count (deletions minus additions) |
In the draft roll published on August 1, 65 lakh names had been deleted as the Booth Level Officers marked them either dead, permanently shifted, enrolled at multiple places or untraceable. The remaining 7.24 crore had made it to the draft roll, after which further additions and deletions took place.
Explaining its decision to prepare the roll afresh, instead of the annual revisions that have been the practice for the past two decades, the EC had said on June 24: “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.”
According to the EC’s order, all those born before July 1, 1987 were required to submit documents proving their own date and/or place of birth; all those born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004, were required to submit documents for themselves and one parent; and all those born after December 2, 2004, were required to submit the documents for themselves and both parents. These categories were as per the requirements under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
The EC’s decision to conduct the SIR was challenged in the Supreme Court through a batch of petitions that questioned the commission’s authority to conduct a check of citizenship of all existing electors as well as the procedure adopted in the SIR. As per Article 326, only Indian citizens who are above the age of 18 years can be registered as electors. However, the current form for enrolment, Form 6, does not require proof of citizenship.