Day Before Form Deadline, 61 Lakh Voters At Risk Of Exclusion In Bihar

A day before the deadline for submitting the enumeration forms as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the Election Commission of India has said 61.1 lakh voters are set to be removed from Bihar's electoral rolls.

The Election Commission (EC) said on Thursday that officials have reached out to 99% of voters so far. Out of 7.9 crore electors, 7.21 crore enumeration forms have been submitted and digitised, and only 7 lakh have not returned their forms.

Of the 61.1 lakh voters that may be struck off the rolls, the Election Commission said 21.6 lakh are dead, 31.5 lakh have permanently moved outside Bihar, 7 lakh are registered as electors in multiple locations, and 1 lakh are untraceable.

If the figure stands, on average, 25,144 names could be removed per constituency across Bihar's 243 Assembly seats. This is expected to have a major impact on results in the Assembly elections, likely to be held in a couple of months, because the last polls saw very narrow victory margins in several seats.

In the 2020 elections, 11 seats were decided by a margin of less than 1,000 votes, 35 seats by less than 3,000 votes, and 52 by less than 5,000 votes.

The opposition Grand Alliance - which has the RJD and the Congress as members, among others, and has been opposing the exercise, calling it rushed - lost in 27 constituencies by under 5,000 votes, 18 seats by less than 3,000 votes and six with a margin of less than 1,000 votes.

Rahul Gandhi vs Election Commission

Parties in the opposition INDIA bloc have also protested in Parliament against the SIR, accusing the Election Commission of irregularities.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the poll body, saying, "If you think you will get away with it, you are wrong. We have 100% proof of the Election Commission allowing cheating in a seat in Karnataka. This is a pattern: in one constituency after another, new votes are being added while old voters are deleted."

Terming the claims "baseless", the EC said that instead of following due process under Section 80 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, Mr Gandhi chose to make public accusations and threats against a constitutional body.