Bihar electoral rolls: Too many nagging doubts

The final electoral rolls in Bihar released on September 30 by the Election Commission of India (ECI) lists 7.42 crore voters. The number of electors in the draft rolls released on August 1 after the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was 7.24 crore. Bihar had 7.89 crore voters as indicated after summary revision in January this year. Given this number, the voters size should have only gone up in a state which is considered a laggard in matters of population control.

With the final rolls depicting 7.42 crore, the State is surprisingly showing a net shortfall of 47 lakh voters. The exclusion of 64 lakh voters between the summary revision and intensive revision had caused wide unrest in the state and objections were raised in diverse circles pertaining to the ambiguity and opacity of the process of intensive revision. It was only after a petition was filed in the Supreme Court by civil society organisations that the apex Court directed the ECI to include the Aadhaar Card as a valid proof of residence, identity and citizenship.

As indicated by the ECI, 3.66 lakh voters were further removed from the draft rolls during the last two months of scrutiny as they were found ineligible. Together with the 65 lakh removed during the SIR, the number excluded now stands at 68 lakh. However, 21.53 lakh names were added or re-included after they were found eligible due to attainment of the voting age, during the process of scrutiny and filing of objections during the intervening two months. As of now around 47 lakh voters stand deleted from the rolls in Bihar where the election process would be starting shortly and the first phase may be held around the last week of October.

This gap in the numbers of electors in a state like Bihar is startling. According to the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections, the State’s population should have 8.18 crore voters i.e., citizens aged 18 and above, as in July 2025. The stated motto of a body entrusted with the conduct of election should be inclusion of all those eligible to vote and exclusion of all those ineligible to vote. But the outcome of the ECI’s exercise raises troubling questions.

It is a rather poignant commentary that far from closing the existing gap between electoral rolls and the numbers eligible to vote, the ECI’s recent exercise has come up with numbers that only widen the gap. One may question if Bihar should be complimented on reversing the growth in population or should doubt the legitimacy of the leviathan exercise undertaken by the ECI in undue haste.

It is less likely that the final electoral roll will pass the muster of judicial scrutiny at the Supreme Court where the final results would be placed when the case comes up shortly, prior to the announcement of the poll schedule for the 234-member Assembly. With the Opposition having raised objections regarding the legitimacy of deletions and  Congress leader Rahul Gandhi having placed  hard evidence on deletion of voters in Aland constituency in Karnataka, the Bihar rolls are all likely to be contested fiercely in the coming days.