Bihar SIR: 6% drop in voters; 3.7 lakh electors declared 'ineligible'

PATNA: Bihar will have a total electorate of 7.4 crore when state assembly elections are held, according to the final electoral roll published on Tuesday by the Election Commission of India . Overall, the voter count has dropped by 6%.

The final number of voters arrived at after completion of the special intensive revision (SIR) has fallen by about 47 lakh from the 7.9 crore it was on June 24, before the exercise. But it has 17.9 lakh more voters compared to the draft roll, which had 7.2 crore on Aug 1 after 65 lakh names were deleted, show details issued by EC.

The release of the rolls kicked off the drill for announcement of poll dates. EC had indicated CEC Gyanesh Kumar and his two colleagues would visit Bihar before announcement of dates, around Oct 5-6.



3.7L electors, declared ‘ineligible’, deleted from EC’s Bihar draft roll

The names of another 3.7 lakh electors, declared “ineligible”, were deleted from the draft list, while 21.5 lakh new ones were added, taking the final figure to 7.4 crore. There may be a small change in the final number as supplementary lists are published during the poll process.

While the number of names removed is far less than what was being anticipated, a break-up of caste- and community-wise deletions will determine the response of parties to the SIR process carried out by the EC. The exercise dominated the buildup to the polls, relegating regular issues to the periphery. On Tuesday, the responses of opponents of SIR were muted in comparison to the earlier high-wattage protests against the exercise.

However, that might change. EC said those eligible and wanting their names included in theroll could still do so up to 10 days before the last date for filing nominations for the assembly polls. Those not satisfied can file a first appeal with the district magistrate under Section 24 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and a second appeal before the chief electoral officer, it said.

The opposition had objected strongly to the SIR after the names of 65 lakh voters were initially dropped from the electoral roll on various grounds. The first major protest had been Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s statewide ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram, a Dalit bastion, on Aug 17, as the entire opposition rallied behind him. He was supported by RJD neta Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani, among others.