‘90% of the migrant workforce from Bihar are unaware of ECI's SIR'

Hindustan Times

12 hours ago

New Delhi: The vast majority of migrant workers from Bihar living outside the state are unaware of the Election Commission of India (ECI)'s special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, according to a survey by the volunteer group Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN). A survey of 338 migrant workers found that only 29% submitted documents from the EC's list, while 45% gave Aadhaar or voter ID, which weren't required. (File)(Bachchan Kumar/HT Photo)
'Despite the procedures in place and clarifications and safeguards from exclusions being hastily announced, the testimonies of migrant workers illustrate low levels of confidence in the process… A large fraction of workers questioned the necessity of the SIR and expressed a strong preference for the older process of using Aadhaar or existing voter IDs,' the group observed in its report.
The survey found that 90% of migrant workers from Bihar living outside the state are unaware of the SIR. It also said that 68% of workers – both within Bihar and outside – lacked accurate information about the documents needed for SIR verification.
The survey covered 338 migrant workers in and outside Bihar.
Of those who reported visits, 29% said officials collected one of the documents from the EC's prescribed list. Another 45% said Aadhaar or voter ID cards were taken along with the enumeration form (EF), even though neither was part of the EC's 11 indicative documents for the exercise.
Launched on June 24, the ECI described the SIR as long overdue, since the last revision in Bihar was conducted in 2003. The poll body said the drive aimed to remove bogus entries and update the rolls. Opposition parties, however, questioned its timing ahead of the state assembly polls and claimed it could 'disenfranchise lakhs of poor voters who cannot produce the requisite documents required to be submitted along with the enumeration forms.'
The draft roll will be published on August 1, with the final list expected on September 30 after corrections.
The SWAN survey noted that 35% of respondents lacked any of the SIR's 11 prescribed documents.
Although an online EF submission portal was made available for migrants outside Bihar, the report found that 75% had never heard of it and fewer than 1% had submitted forms online.