Banka, PurneaSeptember 1, 2025 07:01 PM IST
First published on: Sep 1, 2025 at 07:01 PM IST
As the claims and objections period of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar goes on, some Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) are still uploading papers using the “Any other document” option on the BLO app, including documents such as Aadhaar, Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC), and ration cards. These are not in the list of 11 documents the Election Commission (EC) is seeking from voters, though the Supreme Court has asked it to consider Aadhaar after initially suggesting it take all three into account.
In Banka, a BLO said he did not go through the list of 11 documents that the EC mentioned in its June 24 order or stay updated about the developments in the Supreme Court. In late July, the EC, in a counter-affidavit, informed the top court that Aadhaar does not constitute proof of citizenship and that this had been held by various High Courts. It also noted that there has been “widespread issuance of bogus ration cards” and said EPIC, by its very nature, “merely reflects the current state of the electoral roll and cannot, in itself, establish antecedent eligibility for inclusion in the roll”. On August 22, the court directed the EC to let those excluded from the draft electoral rolls submit their claim forms online, or physically, along with their Aadhaar card or any of the 11 documents.
“In 80% of the cases, I have asked for Aadhaar and ration cards from people and uploaded them as well successfully. In the rest, I got residential, caste, and Class 10 certificates, and EPIC,” said the BLO, adding that he had completed his work a week before the September 1 deadline for document submission and upload.
In a submission to the Court on Monday, the poll panel told a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi that “the filing of claims or objections or corrections is not barred after 01.09.2025”. “The applications submitted for claims, objections, or corrections after 01.09.2025 will be considered after the electoral roll has been finalised,” the EC said.
Asked what would happen if the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) rejected the enumeration forms uploaded with Aadhaar, EPIC, and ration cards, the BLO, a primary schoolteacher, said, “If that is the case, why have they given the option of ‘Any other document’ in the app in the first place? I don’t think the ERO would reject the forms. Officers say any further deletion of voters could land them in court cases and it has also been a big political issue.”
Another BLO in Banka said he had used the ‘Any other document’ option in about 20% of the enumeration forms he had uploaded after the people failed to provide any of the 11 listed documents. “We were asked to get 100% upload anyway. The message was clear: use the ‘Any other document’ option. Though the EROs are the reviewers and the final authority on approving the final electoral roll, we got a sense that the deletion of 65 lakh voters had already become a big issue and there may not be further deletions just because the voters could not produce one of the 11 documents. Now, we understand why we were asked during the SIR’s first phase to also collect Aadhaar and ration cards, even though they were not meant to be uploaded.”
Several BLOs across the state confirmed that they had to submit a form (before publication of the draft roll), giving the break-up of one of the 11 documents and “documents other than the 11”.
A BLO in Purnea said, “When the SIR process began, only the 11 documents showed on the BLO app. After the Opposition parties challenged the process, two more options started showing after a week: ‘2003 electoral roll’ at the top of the app and ‘Any other document’ at the bottom of the document list. But our seniors still insisted on seeking only one of the 11 documents.”
“For the documents of parents (applicable to those born after 1987 and not part of the 2003 roll), officers initially insisted on getting one of the 11 documents. But as we faced problems getting the parents’ documents, we were asked to seek just the image of the 2003 electoral roll showing either or both parents as voters in the roll,” he said.
An ERO said that choosing the “Any other document” option could be tricky. “It can either be accepted or rejected by an ERO, whose discretion depends on the area or the individual voter’s profile. This is where EROs’ ‘satisfaction’ clause in the SIR rules can come under scrutiny at a later stage.” The SIR rules state that the ERO has to be “satisfied” that an applicant meets the eligibility conditions to be enrolled as a voter.
The final electoral roll will be published on September 30, with EROs set to verify documents and dispose of claims and objections between September 1 and 25.