No parties have filed claims for addition, deletion of names from Bihar draft voter list yet: EC

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3 days ago

The Election Commission on Sunday said that no political party has filed claims and objections for the addition or deletion of the names of voters from the draft electoral rolls in Bihar since its publication on Friday.
'From 1 August 2025 (3 PM) till 3 August (3 PM), all political parties put together have filed zero claims and objections for the addition of the names of eligible electors and deletion of the names of ineligible electors,' the poll panel said in a bulletin released on its official website.
The draft list was published on Friday as part of the special revision of the electoral rolls in the state, which was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.
As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility to vote. This means that 2.9 crore out of the state's 7.8 crore voters – or about 37% of the electors – will have to submit documentary evidence.
Voters born before July 1, 1987, must show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents. Those born after December 2, 2004, will need proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents.
The draft voter list published on Friday comprises electors who submitted their enumeration forms to the poll panel between June 24 and July 26. They will now have to produce proof of citizenship to make it to the final list that will be published on September 30.
With the publication of the list, electors have a month to raise claims and objections, during which eligible voters can be added and ineligible names excluded. During this period, voters who believe their names were wrongly deleted can approach the relevant authorities for redressal.
Exclusions higher among women, Muslim-dominated districts
A Scroll analysis of the data published by the Election Commission on Friday showed that women made up 55% of voters who were excluded from Bihar's draft voter list after the revision.
It also showed that five of the state's 10 districts with the largest share of Muslim population had the highest number of excluded voters.
At 15.1%, Gopalganj district in western Bihar saw the highest rate of exclusion in the state. The voter list in the district's Gopalganj Assembly constituency shrunk by 18.25% – also the highest in the state.
The draft roll also removed nearly 65.6 lakh voters. Of them, 22.3 lakh were dead, 36.3 lakh had permanently moved or were absent, and 7 lakh were enrolled in multiple places, the Election Commission said.