Bihar Voter List Row: Nepalese, Bangladeshis found during Election Commission's drive, say officials
The officials said that the names of illegal migrants will not be included in the final electoral roll to be published on September 30 unless proper enquiry of such people is conducted after August 1.
Citing ground reports, news agencies PTI and ANI quoted ECI sources as saying that during house-to-house visits, booth-level officers (blo) found "a large number" of people from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
The officials said that if a proper enquiry is conducted from 1 Aug to 30 Aug, and the information is found to be true, such names will not be included in the final list to be published on 30 September 2025.
The reports come amid opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, raising questions on the poll panel's ongoing special intensive revision (of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. TheCongresshas dubbed it 'a rigging attempt' orchestrated by the Election Commission under instructions from the ruling regime.
The Supreme Court on July 10 allowed the Election Commission of India to continue with its revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. The top court, however, asked the poll panel to consider using the Aadhaar card, the Election card, and the ration card as valid documents for voter identification.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) said that as of Saturday evening, 80.11 per cent of electors in Bihar had submitted their forms. The commission is moving ahead to complete the collection of Enumeration Forms (EFs) before the stipulated time, July 25
The Election Commission will eventually carry out a special intensive revision of electoral rolls across India to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth.
Bihar will go to the polls this year, while assembly polls in five other states—Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal—are scheduled for 2026.
The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal foreign migrants, including from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Key Takeaways The Election Commission's house-to-house visits revealed illegal migrants in Bihar's voter list.
Names of undocumented individuals will be excluded from the final electoral roll after a thorough inquiry.
The move to revise the electoral rolls is part of a broader crackdown on illegal migration in India.
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The revision exercise, announced on June 24, has been controversial due to its timing and new requirement that voters registered after 2003 must provide several documents to stay on the electoral rolls. This has raised fears that many legitimate voters could be disenfranchised. ADR has submitted its response to the EC's affidavit, filed on July 21. In that affidavit, the EC claimed that Article 326 of the Constitution permits it to verify the citizenship of voters and clarified that being removed from the electoral roll does not mean loss of citizenship. The matter will be heard next on 28 July. Citizenship verification against court judgments? ADR argued that the EC's claim of authority to verify citizenship goes against earlier Supreme Court decisions. It cited Lal Babu Hussain vs Union of India (1995), which stated that the burden of proving citizenship lies with new applicants, not existing voters. 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EC's Aadhaar rejection 'absurd' In its July 21 affidavit, the EC refused to accept the Supreme Court's suggestion to include Aadhaar, ration cards, and Voter ID as valid documents, arguing that Aadhaar and ration cards can be obtained using false papers. ADR countered that the EC's list of 11 acceptable documents is also open to fraud. It added, 'The fact that Aadhaar card is one of the documents accepted for obtaining Permanent Residence Certificate, OBC/SC/ST Certificate and for passport – makes ECI's rejection of Aadhar (which is most widely held document) under the instant SIR order patently absurd.' 'Violations' by officials ADR alleged that EC officials on the ground are not following the Commission's own rules. The June 24 guidelines required Block Level Officers (BLOs) to visit each home and provide two forms per voter. But ADR said many voters had not met any BLOs and had not signed any forms, yet their submissions were recorded online. 'Forms of even dead individuals have been reported to have been submitted,' it added. ADR also criticised the lack of a clear process for verifying these forms and documents, saying this gave Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) excessive powers that could lead to widespread disenfranchisement. Why target post-2003 voters? The EC's order says that the 2003 electoral roll is proof of citizenship for voters already registered. For those born after July 1, 1987, the EC asks for proof of citizenship from at least one parent. If the parent appears on the 2003 roll, the child may rely on that. ADR said this distinction was unfair and placed those registered after 2003 at 'a larger risk of disenfranchisement.' It also questioned why the EC had not submitted the 2003 revision order to the Court and asked for it to be produced. 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Instead, parties had raised concerns about fake votes being added, genuine opposition voters being deleted, and irregular voting after polls had closed. Supreme Court's interim observations The case was first heard on July 10 by a vacation bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi. While the Court did not halt the process, it suggested the EC consider allowing Aadhaar, Voter ID, and ration cards as valid documents, in addition to the 11 listed. The EC was told to submit its affidavit by July 21, and the matter will be heard again on July 28. As of Friday, the EC said it had received forms from 72.3 million voters for inclusion in the draft roll. Around 6.5 million names are to be deleted due to death, permanent migration, duplicate entries, or because the voter was untraceable. Further deletions may occur after the draft roll is published. Between August 1 and September 1, those whose names are missing from the draft will be able to file claims and objections.
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an hour ago
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Scroll.in
2 hours ago
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The Association for Democratic Reforms on Saturday described the Election Commission's decision not to Aadhaar card a standalone valid documen t for the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar as 'blatantly absurd', reported The Hindu. The non-profit organisation is one of the petitioners against the exercise. The statement was part of a rejoined filed in the Supreme Court in response to the poll panel's affidavit in the matter. On Monday, the Election Commission said that the Aadhaar does not 'constitute proof of Indian citizenship' and could be easily forged. The affidavit had come in response to the Supreme Court's July 10 order that asked the Election Commission to consider Aadhaar cards, voter identity cards and ration cards as valid proof for the electoral roll revision exercise 'in the interest of justice'. 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It told the court that each electoral registration officer has been tasked with handling the enumeration forms of more than three lakh persons. This makes it 'humanly impossible for them' to conduct the process reasonably, the organisation told the Supreme court. It alleged that the manner in which the exercise was being carried out was a ' grave fraud ' on the state's voters, reported The Indian Express. 'Many voters have reported that their forms have been submitted online, despite never having met with any BLOs [block level officers] or signed any documents,' the Association for Democratic Reforms was quoted as saying by Live Law. 'Forms of even dead individuals have been reported to have been submitted.' According to the Election Commission's guidelines, the block level officers are required to visit each home and give a voter two enumeration forms. The organisation added: 'The above points to the flawed manner in which the current SIR of electoral rolls is being conducted, where the integrity of the electoral rolls is compromised, potentially affecting millions of voters and undermining the democratic process.' The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar 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. If the officers are satisfied with the details provided, the voters will be re-enrolled to a new voter list by electoral registration officers. If not, they will be removed from the voter lists. A draft roll will be published on August 1 and the final roll will be out on September 30. On July 2, eleven INDIA bloc parties told the Election Commission that the special intensive revision of Bihar's electoral rolls risked disenfranchising more than 2.5 crore voters, as they may not be able to produce the necessary documents. On July 5, the Association for Democratic Reforms filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the special intensive revision of Bihar's electoral rolls, saying that the order is arbitrary and can disenfranchise millions of voters. The non-profit organisation sought the quashing of the order and stated that it imposed fresh documentation requirements and shifted the burden of proof from the state to the citizen. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on July 6 defended the exercise, claiming that the exercise had to be carried out as no one was satisfied with the current voter rolls. The poll panel stated on Monday that there was no violation of law or fundamental rights of any voter in the electoral roll revision process. 'The SIR [special intensive revision' adds to the purity of elections by weeding out inelgible persons from electoral rolls,' said the Election Commission.
