New Delhi, Aug 10: India’s Election Commission (ECI) told the Supreme Court on Saturday it would not delete any names from Bihar’s draft electoral roll without prior notice and an opportunity for affected voters to present documents, as part of safeguards in the state’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The draft roll, published on Aug. 1, has reportedly seen about 6.5 million names removed. The assurance came in response to a petition from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which sought individual details of those deletions , a point the ECI did not directly address.
The poll body said deletion orders would be “reasoned and speaking” and reinforced by a two-tier appeal mechanism under existing rules. Booth-level lists have been shared with political parties, and printed and digital copies of the draft roll are open for scrutiny from Aug. 1 to Sept. 1.
To avoid wrongful exclusion, the ECI said 250,000 volunteers, mainly Bihar government officials, were deployed to help voters secure necessary documents. It also pledged to assist those without any papers in obtaining them.
As part of its outreach, the commission has run Hindi-language advertisements, set up special urban camps in 261 local bodies, issued notices in 246 newspapers, and conducted repeated house visits through 77,895 Booth Level Officers. More than 160,000 Booth Level Agents from major political parties are authorised to submit up to 50 voter forms daily.
Special drives are under way to enrol young voters turning 18 by Oct. 1 and to ensure temporary migrants from Bihar are not excluded from the final electoral roll. The ECI said the first stage of the SIR had made “substantial progress.”
