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Amid the claims over deletion of names from the voters' list in Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday said that not a single claim or objection has been filed by any political party since the publication of the draft electoral rolls on August 1.
"From 1 August 2025 (3 PM) till 3 August (3 PM), all political parties put together have filed zero claims and objections for the addition of the names of eligible electors and deletion of the names of ineligible electors," said the Election Commission in a press note. ECI released the draft electoral rolls for Bihar on Friday afternoon, following the completion of the Enumeration Phase under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2025. It said the public has one month to submit claims and objections, assuring that "no name will be removed from the draft voter list without a stated reason. Earlier in the day, Congress MP Manickam Tagore alleged that the names flagged out of the draft voter list in Bihar were "disproportionately high" in areas considered opposition strongholds, demanding a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar. Sharing an X post, he wrote, "Massive voter deletion drive in Bihar? @ECISVEEP's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has flagged 65 lakh voters--8.3% of the total electorate--for possible deletion ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections. #StopVoterDeletion #Bihar. This is not a routine update. Voter flagging is disproportionately high in districts considered opposition strongholds and battlegrounds." The ECI in a press note on Friday had said, "The draft list, covering all 243 Assembly Constituencies and 90,712 polling booths, was shared with all political parties by the 38 District Election Officers (DEOs) across the state," "As per SIR order, after the completion of the Enumeration Phase from 24 June to 25 July 2025, the draft Electoral Rolls have been published for Bihar on 1 August 2025." A detailed list of electors whose names appeared in the June 24 rolls but were missing in the new draft was also shared with political parties for cross-verification. Additionally, 1.60 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) nominated by District Presidents of 12 political parties actively participated in the process on the ground. The commission enabled electors to verify their names through the official link -- https://voters.eci.gov.in -- using their EPIC numbers. They were also allowed to file claims and objections for inclusion or deletion of names through the same portal. In a drive to ensure accurate and updated voter identity cards, the ECI urged all voters to submit new photographs to their Booth Level Officers (BLOs) by September 1, 2025. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar has sparked a political row, with the opposition INDIA bloc alleging that the revision process could lead to the deletion of a large number of voters. According to data from the revision exercise in Bihar, around 35 lakh electors have either migrated permanently or could not be traced at their registered addresses. The figures have raised serious concerns about the integrity of the voter list as the Election Commission prepares for a nationwide revision of electoral rolls. It is also worth noting that a large number of untraceable electors have been found during the SIR in Bihar. As per government data from 2017, an estimated 2.04 crore Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas are believed to be living illegally in India, adding another layer of complexity to concerns over voter list accuracy. As of January 1, 2024, India had 96.88 crore registered voters for the General Elections, making the outcome of the nationwide revision exercise highly significant. (ANI)
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