"Some Parties Didn't Ask For Corrections...": Poll Body On Voter Roll Row
A day before it is scheduled to address a presser on Sunday, the EC said that physical and digital copies of draft electoral rolls are shared with all political parties and put on the ECI website for anyone to see. A one month period is then given for the filing of claims and objections. The final published voter list is also shared with all recognised political parties and a two-tiered appeals process is made available.
Amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of voter lists ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, the EC's is facing questions from Opposition parties, which claim that the move will disenfranchise crores of eligible citizens due to want of papers. The Supreme Court also directed the poll to publish online the list of over 65 lakh voters proposed for deletion during the SIR exercise.
Defending itself against the criticism, the EC said in Saturday's release, "It seems that some political parties and their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) did not examine the Electoral Rolls at the appropriate time and did not point out errors." The EC also said the the parties that have objections to the electoral rolls did not raised objections "at the right time through the right channels".
The Election Commission has responded to the Opposition's statements on the Bihar voter list revision exercise, stating that all political parties in Bihar were provided with the complete list of proposed deletions beginning July 20, 2025. This includes the names, reasons for proposed deletions-ranging from death, permanent migration, untraceability, to duplicate entries-and clear guidelines on filing objections.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also levelled voter theft charges against the EC, for which the poll body has sought an apology if he fails to give an undertaking backing his allegations. The commission has asked the Congress leader to submit the names of those he claims have been wrongfully added or removed from the voters' list, along with a signed declaration.
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