ECI to begin special intensive revision of electoral roll in Bihar

This is the first time that ECI has spoken about illegal immigrants being part of the electoral roll in the state where the last SIR was done in 2003

The Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Tuesday that it will undertake a special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar to weed out ineligible names, citing rapid urbanisation, frequent migration and foreign illegal immigrants as some of the motivations for the house-to-house verification exercise.

ECI to begin special intensive revision of electoral roll in Bihar

Bihar is set to go to the polls later this year. This is the first time that ECI has spoken about illegal immigrants being part of the electoral roll in the state where the last SIR was done in 2003.

The poll body also said that it will conduct a similar exercise nationwide.

“One of the fundamental pre-conditions set out in Article 326 of the Constitution is that a person is required to be an Indian citizen, for [their] name to be registered in the electoral roll. Consequently, the commission has a constitutional obligation to ensure that only persons who are citizens [are enrolled in the electoral roll]... Therefore, the commission has now decided to begin the SIR in the entire country for the discharge of its constitutional mandate to protect the integrity of the electoral rolls,” deputy election commissioner Sanjay Kumar said in a set of instructions issued to Bihar chief electoral officer.

“Various reasons such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of an intensive revision so as to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls. The Booth Level Officers (BLOs) shall be conducting house-to-house surveys for verification during the process of this intensive revision,” the poll watchdog said in a statement.

The last time ECI did an intensive revision in seven states, including Bihar, in 2003.

ECI said the decision was taken to ensure the integrity and preparation of an error-free electoral roll in Bihar, and in the rest of the country at a later stage. As part of its instructions, the Commission on Tuesday wrote to Bihar’s Chief Electoral Officer, stating that July 1 would be the qualifying date for the SIR.

“The objective of an intensified revision is to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll (ER) so as to enable them to exercise their franchise, no ineligible voter is included in the electoral rolls and also to introduce complete transparency in the process of addition or deletion of electors in the electoral rolls,” ECI said in the statement.

ECI said that as Bihar elections are due later this year, the state will be the first to undergo the SIR. However, the schedule for the SIR in the rest of the country shall be issued separately in due course, ECI said in the set of instructions.

“Since the last intensive revision in Bihar was undertaken in 2003, the electoral registration officers shall treat the electoral roll of 2003 with qualifying date of January 1, 2003, as probative evidence of eligibility, including presumption of citizenship unless they receive any other input otherwise. Any person whose name is not recorded in the 2003 electoral roll shall, for the purpose of registration in the electoral roll, be required to submit from amongst a wide range of eligible government documents as prescribed for establishing their eligibility to be an elector,” Sanjay Kumar said.

He said that rapid urbanisation and frequent migration on account of education, livelihood and other reasons had become regular trends. “Some electors obtain registration in one place and then shift their residence and register themselves at another place without getting their names deleted from the electoral roll of the initial place of residence. This has led to increased possibility of repeated entries in the electoral roll. Thus, the situation warrants an intensive verification drive to verify each person before enrolment as an elector,” he added.

On top of the annual Special Summary Revision (SSR), published on January 6, 2025, and continuously updated since then, the deputy election commissioner directed that a “pre-filled enumeration form” shall be made available to every existing elector as on June 24 and the draft roll shall include the names of all the electors in Bihar who have submitted a duly filled enumeration form before July 25, 2025.

The procedure laid down by the Commission, as part of its press release, to conduct this exercise are: “EROs will print pre-filled Enumeration Form (EF)--which will have EPIC number, constituency name, address, parents name, mobile number, and Aadhaar (optional)-- for all existing electors as on the date of the order and give it to BLOs, who will distribute EFs to all existing electors through house-to-house visit. EF will be [also] available on the ECI website/ECINET which can be downloaded by an elector whose name is in the electoral roll as on the date of the order…BLOs to guide the public on filling up of EF…BLOs to collect EFs from the public along with required documents. Alternatively, existing elector can also upload the EF and documents online. BLO Supervisor to check the BLO’s qualitative & quantitative output. Draft Electoral Roll to be prepared of all electors whose EF have been received.”

“This being an intensive revision, in case enumeration form is not submitted before July 25, 2025, the name of the elector cannot be included in draft rolls. However, the chief electoral officer, district electoral officer, electoral registration officer, booth level officer should also take care that genuine electors, particularly old, sick, persons with disabilities, poor and other vulnerable groups are not harassed and are facilitated to the extent possible,” Kumar wrote in the set of instructions.

Representatives of recognised political parties will be part of the process. After claims and objections, the final roll will be released.

In 2003, intensive revision was conducted in seven states, while all other states had a special summary revision. In 2004, a special summary revision was undertaken in the entire country.

There are four types of summary revisions of the electoral rolls: Intensive revision; summary revision, where the roll is simply updated and there is no house-to-house enumeration; special summary revision, where ECI may order house-to-house verification and adopt changes in the existing procedure suitable to the specific circumstances; and partly intensive and partly summary revision, where the existing electoral rolls are published in draft and, simultaneously, enumerators or the BLOs are sent to the households for verification.

Electoral rolls have taken centre stage in the political controversy. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has intensified allegations of electoral roll manipulation in Maharashtra, citing a sudden 40.81 lakh spike in electors between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, compared to 31 lakh over the previous five years. He demanded the release of machine-readable voter rolls and CCTV footage, and on Tuesday alleged irregularities in CM Devendra Fadnavis’ constituency based on a news report. Fadnavis countered that voters/electors surge also occurred in Congress-won seats. The ECI said it had invited Gandhi for discussions on June 12 but received no response. Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer had earlier clarified the additions were routine, mostly involving young voters, with over 1.39 crore additions and 1.07 crore deletions–of electors–between 2019 assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections; whereas 48.82 lakh addition of electors and 8 lakh deletions between LS 2024 elections and Assembly 2024 elections in Maharashtra.