E-Paper
Nearly 60% of electoral roll deletions in Bihar’s SIR are women, data shows
Election Commission officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, attributed part of this skew to “social and cross-border factors”
NEW DELHI: Bihar’s electoral roll has contracted sharply in 2025. Between January 1, when the Special Summary Revision (SSR) data was published, and September 30, when the final list under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was issued, the state lost more than 38 lakh voters. The state’s electoral roll stood at 7.80 crore at the start of the year, and has now dropped to 7.41 crore.
The change is not evenly distributed across genders. The number of male voters decreased from 4.07 crore in January to 3.92 crore in September, representing a 3.8% reduction. The number of female voters decreased from 3.72 crore to 3.49 crore during the same period, representing a sharper decline of 6.1%. In absolute terms, the number of men declined by 15.55 lakh, while the number of women fell by 22.75 lakh. This imbalance means nearly six out of every ten names deleted during the SIR process belonged to women.
In the state’s larger districts, the same trend is visible when comparing the January roll to the September final list. In Muzaffarpur, for instance, the size of the electoral roll fell from 34.14 lakh voters in January to 32.91 lakh in September, a net drop of over 1.23 lakh. In this case, the number of men declined by 4.3%, while women dropped by 4.4%. In Madhubani district, the roll shrank from 33.37 lakh to 31.09 lakh, a fall of 2.28 lakh. Here, the burden fell more on women, who declined by 8.2%, compared to 5.5% among men. Purvi Champaran recorded a drop from 36.28 lakh to 34.28 lakh, with women’s deletions reaching 6.7% compared to 4.4% among men.
Patna, the largest district in terms of electorate, dropped from 50.03 lakh to 48.15 lakh in the same period. The percentage reduction was 3.5% for men and 4.1% for women. Samastipur also displayed the gap: its electoral roll contracted from 30.87 lakh in January to 29.26 lakh by September, with women down by 6.7% and men by 3.8%.
In some districts, the imbalance is more severe. Gopalganj shrank from 20.38 lakh to 18.06 lakh voters, an overall decline of 11.3%. Here, women’s numbers fell by nearly 15%, while men dropped by only 7.8%. Kishanganj lost more than 10,000 voters overall, but the gender difference was stark: women declined by 11.9%, men by 5.5%. Supaul’s electoral roll contracted from 16.22 lakh to 15.37 lakh, with women’s deletions at 7% compared to 3.6% for men. Darbhanga lost close to 90,000 names, but the decline was more pronounced among women, at 4.4%, while men experienced a smaller drop of 1.7%.
The smaller districts show similar patterns when comparing January to September. Sheohar fell from 3.21 lakh to 3.01 lakh voters, with women’s deletions at 8.1% compared to 4.7% for men. In Arwal, women’s names declined by 4.1%, men’s by 1.5%. Sheikhpura too saw a stronger impact on women, with a reduction of 3.2% compared to 2.3% among men.
Election Commission officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, attributed part of this skew to “social and cross-border factors”.
“In northern Bihar’s border districts, many women from Nepal marry into Indian families but do not surrender their Nepali citizenship. Without full documentation, these women are more likely to have their names struck off during verification,” an official told HT.
Officials also noted that families often show less urgency in registering women, particularly those who have married into households, whereas men’s registration is treated as a priority.
Taken together, the numbers from January to September highlight a consistent pattern: while Bihar’s voter list shrank by nearly 5%, the reduction was far sharper among women at just over 6%, compared to less than 4% among men.
