In the face of criticism from the Opposition and confusion on the ground in Bihar, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state, saying the poll panel had “invited all recognised political parties for interaction” on the matter and “no one was satisfied with the current status of electoral rolls for one reason or the other”. The Election Commission (EC) also clarified that the SIR was being conducted as per its June 24 order announcing the exercise and “there is no change in the instructions”.
The poll panel issued the clarification after the office of the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) published an advertisement in local newspapers earlier in the day informing electors that they can submit their enumeration forms now and provide the required documents later.
The advertisement, published in Hindi, carried the CEO’s “appeal” to electors: “Fill and submit your enumeration forms with documents and your photograph to BLOs as early as possible.” The second point read: “Yadi avyashak dastavez tatha photo uplabdh nahi ho to sirf ganana prapatra bhar kar BLO ko uplabdh karaa de.[If you do not have requisite documents, then provide the enumeration forms to the BLOs).”
In its clarification, the EC said, “It is reiterated that SIR is being conducted as per the SIR instructions dated 24.06.2025 and there is no change in the instructions. As per instructions, draft electoral rolls that will be issued on 1 August 2025 will contain the names of persons whose enumeration forms are received. The electors can submit their documents any time before July 25, 2025. After publication of draft Electoral Rolls, if any document is deficient, EROs (Electoral Registration Officers) can obtain such documents, from the electors whose name appears in the draft Electoral Rolls, during scrutiny in the Claims and Objection period.”
Electors at the upper caste-dominated Gangsara village of Sarairanjan, Samastipur.
Hours earlier, even as Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge cited the advertisement to question the voter verification drive, the Bihar CEO also clarified that the timeline of the voter list verification drive had not changed and that it was progressing as per the June 24 order.
“All measures are being taken to facilitate the existing electors to complete the documentation. These existing voters will have time to submit the documents even after first submitting their Enumeration Forms. All activities are exactly as per ECI’s order dated 24.06.2025,” read the post on X.
For forms submitted without documents, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) would send a notice to the elector. The voters would have the time to file claims and objections between August 1 and September 1, with the final roll set to be published on September 30. “People should beware of statements being made by a few people attempting to confuse the public with their incorrect and misleading statements,” said an EC official.
The advertisement and the poll panel’s clarification come at a time when the Opposition has expressed concerns about the SIR, and petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a stay on it. Hitting out at the BJP and questioning the need to revise the electoral rolls just a few months before the Bihar Assembly elections, Kharge wrote on X, “…With pressure from the Opposition, the public, and civil society mounting, the Election Commission hurriedly published these advertisements today, which state that now only a form needs to be filled, and showing documents is not necessary. This is part of the BJP’s tactic to mislead and confuse the public. The truth is that the BJP has decided it will crush democracy at all costs. But when faced with public opposition, it cleverly takes a step back. Bihar is the birthplace of democracy. The people of Bihar will surely respond to this BJP attack on democracy and the Constitution in the upcoming elections.”
The role of EROs
The drive to revise the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced on June 24, apparently to weed out ineligible names and ensure only eligible citizens are included in the electoral rolls. Any person whose name is not recorded in the 2003 electoral rolls — an estimated 2.93 crore voters — needs to submit at least one of 11 documents establishing eligibility to vote.
In the “detailed guidelines” for the SIR issued with that order, the EC said documents would have to be submitted along with the form. Explaining the steps to be taken in each phase, the guidelines state: “Each elector must submit this form along with requisite information and self-attested documents to the BLO.” This, as per the schedule issued by the EC in the instructions to the CEO, has to be completed between June 25 and July 26.
The order also said that EROs “shall not delete any entry from the draft roll without conducting an inquiry and giving a fair and reasonable opportunity to the persons concerned”. Under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the ERO of the constituency is the one responsible for including names in the electoral rolls. Section 23 (2) of the Act says, “The electoral registration officer shall, if satisfied that the applicant is entitled to be registered in the electoral roll, direct his name to be included therein 3[after proper verification of facts in such manner as may be prescribed].” Usually, the ERO is a sub-divisional magistrate.
As the ongoing series in The Indian Express reports, the SIR sparked concern among voters, from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s turf Harnaut in Nalanda district and RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s Raghopur in Vaishali district to the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region about procuring any one of the 11 documents the EC has sought. The concern is especially palpable among those in the margins, from Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) to minorities. As a report in the series explained, given the socio-economic realities of Bihar, the nature of the 11 documents frames the challenge for the voters, with most people lacking access to these papers.
What EC clarification means
The EC’s June 24 order said only those whose forms were received before July 25 would make it to the draft rolls to be published on August 1. The detailed guidelines published along with the order stated that electors would have to submit forms with documents in the house-to-house enumeration phase of the drive, or by July 25. Now, the poll body has clarified that the EROs can obtain documents from electors whose names appear in the draft rolls even during the claims-and-objections phase that will run from August 1 to September 1.