The Election Commission of India (ECI) is facing scrutiny over the newly revised voter lists in the state of Bihar, with allegations of incorrect photographs and deceased individuals appearing on the rolls. This comes after a "Special Intensive Revision" (SIR) conducted between June 25 and July 26, intended to update the voter list, a process that was last undertaken in 2003.
The updated draft rolls show a reduction of 6.5 million voters, bringing the total to 72.4 million. The ECI claims that the deletions include 2.2 million deceased individuals, 700,000 duplicate registrations, and 3.6 million people who have migrated from the state. While corrections are being accepted until September 1, over 165,000 applications have already been received. A similar review to the one conducted in Bihar is expected to be conducted nationwide to verify nearly a billion voters.
Opposition parties are accusing the ECI of deliberately removing voters, particularly Muslims in four border districts, to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming state election. Both the ECI and BJP have denied these allegations.
Reports from voters in Bihar indicate several discrepancies in the draft rolls, including wrong photographs and the presence of deceased individuals. In Kharika village, many residents who submitted forms and paid for new photos found errors, such as incorrect photos next to their names. One farmer and retired teacher, Tarkeshwar Singh, showed pages with his family's details, pointing out the wrong photo beside his name. His wife and son also had incorrect pictures displayed.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) plans to raise these issues in the Supreme Court. The court previously stated it would halt the revision if petitioners could prove 15 genuine voters were missing from the draft rolls. However, a representative from ADR stated that it is difficult to prove since the commission has not provided a list of the 6.5 million names that have been removed.
Further analysis of Bihar's draft voter list reveals that 292,048 voters have their house number listed as '0', '00', or '000'. An official from the Bihar chief electoral office admitted that such errors occur when voters do not fill in their house numbers, and the ECI website accepts these applications, defaulting the house number to '0'. The Magadh and Patna regions have the highest number of voters with '0' as their house number.
The ECI's decision to remove digital voter lists from the "Bihar SIR Draft Roll 2025" website has also drawn criticism. This action makes it more difficult to find errors, as data on digital rolls can be quickly extracted and organized using computer programs and AI tools. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the poll panel refused to share digital voter lists to conceal dubious and fake voters who allegedly help the BJP win elections.
The ECI maintains that the special intensive revision aims to ensure that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible voter is included in the list. The commission stated that it collected enumeration forms from 91.6% of electors. However, 6.5 million voters were removed from the list because 2.2 million were dead, 3.6 million had moved or were not found, and 700,000 were duplicates. The ECI has assured the Supreme Court that no voter's name will be deleted without prior notice.
