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Hans India
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
341 claims, objections filed by individual electors disposed in Bihar: ECI
New Delhi: Bihar's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and his team of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have disposed 341 claims and objections received directly from electors for inclusion of names in the draft voter list and exclusion of ineligible voters, an official said on Tuesday. The election office has so far received 13,970 claims and objections from electors concerning Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, said an ECI bulletin. It said as per rules, the claims and objections are disposed by the ERO/AERO concerned after the expiry of 7 days following the verification of eligibility of documents. However, even after 12 days of the publication of electoral draft rolls, none of the political parties has filed any complaint, the poll panel said. The ECI said that in Bihar since August 1, as many as 63,591 new electors, who have turned 18 after the SIR exercise, have filled forms for inclusion in the voter list. For such first-time voters, the election office has received six forms from Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of political parties. The SIR exercise in Bihar has been attacked by the Opposition parties over alleged irregularities, which they allege threaten to deprive lakhs of voters of their right to vote - a charge denied by the ECI. The poll panel published its draft electoral rolls on August 1 and has kept a window of one month for people, parties and their BLAs to bring their complaints and grievances regarding inclusion or exclusion from the draft electoral list. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has 47,506 BLAs, the Congress has 17,549, and the Left has over 2,000, all adding up to over 67,000. The ECI has been routinely reaching out to political parties to join the revision exercise and bring to its notice instances of disenfranchisement, if any. 'Submit your claims and objections to rectify any errors in the draft Electoral Roll of Bihar published on August 1. So far, not even a single claim or objection has been submitted by any political party,' the EC said in a statement. The ECI highlighted that between June 23 and July 25, the Congress has increased its BLAs to 17,549 (an increase of 105 per cent), Rashtriya Janata Dal to 47,506 (an increase of 1 per cent), Janata Dal (United) to 36,550 (an increase of 31 per cent) and BJP to 53,338 (an increase by 3 per cent). The ECI concluded the enumeration phase of the SIR between June 24 to July 25. More than 7.24 crore electors -- out of a total of 7.89 crore -- submitted their enumeration forms during the exercise. At the end, about 65 lakh voters were found to be missing from the draft electoral rolls published on August 1. This included 22 lakh deceased electors (2.83 per cent), 36 lakh (4.59 per cent) who had permanently shifted or were not found and seven lakh (0.89 per cent) who had enrolled at more than one place, ECI data showed.
Economic Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Economic Times
SIR challenge: Domicile verification backlog hits electoral roll revision
Synopsis Bihar's Seemanchal region faces challenges in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, particularly in Muslim-dominated Kishanganj, due to a surge in domicile certificate applications. The administration struggles to verify applications amidst concerns about Bangladeshi infiltrators. On an average, Muslim-dominated Kishanganj district receives 30,000 online applications per month seeking issuance of 'Awasiya Praman Patra' (domicile certificate). In July, three lakh voters submitted applications for this certificate, which is one of the 11 documents required by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral is a challenge for the Kishanganj administration to verify each application at the ground level to issue permanent residence certificates to genuine citizens within a short time. As per the SIR schedule, the decision on the Enumeration Forms (EFs) received during H2H enumeration and disposal of claims and objections will be completed by September 25, 2025. This is just one of the problems in carrying out a proper SIR in Bihar's sensitive Seemanchal region spanning four districts -- Kishanganj, Araria, Purina and Katihar. Seemanchal region remains in the news for the alleged presence of Bangladeshi there is apparently little cooperation between the ECI and political parties to complete SIR at the ground-level, the administration depends on booth level officers (BLOs) to give a final shape to the electoral rolls. "You can't expect us to fully cooperate after the collection of EFs in SIR's first phase. BLOs distributed EFs and collected it from voters on their own without support from BLAs. So, the process for SIR could not begin on a good note," claimed Abhay Sinha, Purnia district's general secretary of the state's main opposition has a different version on SIR. "We have organised workshops in different areas to train our BLAs on their role in the SIR process. We want our BLAs to develop proper understanding with the BLOs concerned," Manoj Singh, BJP's Purnia district president, said. Although SIR is a commendable step, it is tough to complete in a short time, he first stage was significant because of ECI's intensive search for 'ASD' (absentee, shifted and dead) voters. Most BLOs this reporter met in Kishanganj, Araria and Purnia, admitted they completed the task of distributing and collecting EFs on their own, besides tracing 'ASDs'. At Singhiya Chakandara village in Kishanganj's Kochadhaman assembly constituency, three BLOs -- Prabhakar Ghosh, Mehmood Aalam and Ghulam Taha -- were busy identifying voters who have not submitted SIR documents. "We spent sleepless nights to distribute and collect EFs on our own. Now, we are calling voters to submit the documents," said Ghosh, who is trying to contact the remaining 429 voters (out of 796 at booth number 208) to collect said they had made a special appeal to voters to arrange documents in advance at the time of the collection of EFs. "This is farming season. Farmers are busy planting paddy. They are available only during evening hours," said BLO Mehmood Aalam, who is struggling to collect documents from 3q50 voters (out of a total 796) at booth number middle school, Simalbadi (Kishanganj), two BLOs, Uttam Kumar and Lutfun Nishan, said they collected mobile numbers of all voters during the distribution and collection of EFs. "The phone numbers made our task easy to contact voters for the collection of documents. Although we do not get any support from BLAs, we are in touch with ward members, Anganwadi Sevika, women associated Jeevika, ration dealers and panchayat functionaries to trace voters for submitting SIR documents," Uttam Kumar were given a list of names of Mahadalit voters, issued by Bihar Mahadalit Vikash Nigam. "This list is helpful for Mahadalit voters. This is a recognised document as the family register," BLO Uttam said. So, most Mahadalit voters are apparently not facing the threat of being deleted from the electoral rolls, he Katihar's Bheriya Rahika, this reporter accompanied BLO Shakoor Aalam (booth number 106), who was trying to collect documents, to see at first hand the challenges he faced. He met a voter, Soni Devi at a tea stall, whose father-in-law Ramanand Chauhan's name is in the 2003 electoral roll. She is not ready to bring the required documents from her father's place of Khokhali Bagh (Purnia). "I am desperately looking for available options to ensure her name in the rolls," Aalam said. He said most voters do not possess their own documents. This is a major problem to link them with their parents whose names are in the 2003 rolls. They produce documents like Aadhaar and pan card which are not Maharajpur panchayat of Purnia, Bhukhiya Devi approached BLO Lakshman Singh as her name is not in the draft rolls although she was a voter in the 2003 rolls. The BLO tried to pacify her that an objection has been filed and her name will be in the final rolls. The SIR exercise in Seemanchal shows that there is a need for a proper understanding between political parties and BLOs. What has politically troubled Opposition parties in Bihar is the SIR's timing, which just ahead of the 2025 polls. "This is the right time for opposition parties to highlight political issues to woo voters. This is the time for them to target the NDA government. However, opposition parties are entangled with the SIR issue," a voter in Purnia said. Officers engaged in SIR do not spare time to hearing people's grievances. This is not a good sign for the ruling NDA alliance ahead of the assembly polls.
New Indian Express
6 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Join ‘claims and objections' exercise, EC tells parties
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday said it has put in place a detailed plan to conduct the upcoming Bihar assembly elections and advised political parties, which are opposed to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state, to participate in the claims and objections process through their authorised Booth Level Agents (BLAs). The ECI said, 'In a first for any state, Bihar has capped the number of electors per polling booth at 1,200 to prevent long queues. This initiative has led to a significant increase in the number of polling stations, from 77,895 to 90,712. The number of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) has also been increased from 77,895 to 90,712 to match this expansion.' It said that the number of volunteers has been substantially increased from one lakh to almost four lakhs, and all 12 recognised political parties in Bihar have also increased their number of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) from 1,38,680 to 1,60,813. Claiming that it has been actively working to ensure the accuracy of the voter lists, the poll panel said, 'Lists of electors who were reported as deceased, permanently shifted, or having duplicate votes, as well as those who could not be contacted after at least three visits by BLOs, have been shared with all political parties and their BLAs on or before July 20.'
Time of India
02-08-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Not one claim from booth level agents of parties in 24 hours of poll roll publication
NEW DELHI: Not a single claim or objection was filed within the first 24 hours of publication of the draft electoral roll in Bihar, by any of the 1.6 lakh booth level agents (BLAs) deployed by a dozen political parties across the state's 90,712 booths. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now However, EC said 3,223 applications were received between 3pm on Aug 1 and 3pm on Aug 2, for fresh enrolment of electors turning 18 years on the cutoff dates July 1 and Oct 1, 2025. All have submitted their Form 6 with the mandatory declaration. As reported by TOI, EC, in an exercise aimed at 100% transparency, put out the first of its daily reports Saturday on the partywise claims and objections received from BLAs and resolved by the electoral registration officer or assistant ERO. As per rules, claims and objections are to be disposed of after the expiry of seven days. The update shared by the poll panel lists 'zero' claims and objections filed between 3pm on Aug 1 and 3pm on Aug 2, by the BLAs appointed by RJD, Congress, CPM, AAP, BSP, National People's Party, BJP, JD(U), CPI (ML) (Liberation), LJP (Ram Vilas), Rashtriya LJP and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party. The district election officers of all of Bihar's 38 districts had Friday shared the draft electoral roll for all 90,712 polling booths with the political parties. It also provided them the list of electors who were there in the roll as on June 24, 2025, but are not in the draft electoral roll published Friday. The absence of any claim or objection from RJD, which has 47,506 BLAs in the field, is interesting given that Saturday started with party chief claiming his name was not in the roll. The claim turned out to be incorrect as a copy of the draft roll for the relevant booth in Digha assembly constituency lists not only Tejashwi as entry no. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 416, but also his wife Rajshree as entry no. 445. Tejashwi had earlier, while objecting to the non-inclusion of Aadhaar in list of documentation accepted under SIR, voiced the fear that his wife, who only has Aadhaar, may not be on the roll. EC on Saturday said it is not able to understand why Tejashwi is making such baseless allegations. As regards his fears regarding large-scale deletions, the poll panel said he should ask his 47,506 BLAs to file claims and objections, for which they have an entire month from Aug 1 to Sept 1. "No BLA of any political party has submitted a single case to BLOs during the last 24 hours. This, despite all BLAs having agreed to go through the boothwise draft lists given to them on August 1, carefully," said the commission. EC is meanwhile issuing advertisements in print, TV and social media to create awareness among the electors of Bihar regarding the option of filing claims and objections. It will also set up special camps in all block-cum-office circles and urban local body offices, from 10am to 5pm on all days till Sept 1. Any elector of Bihar can check his name in the draft electoral roll by filling his EPIC number directly on the EC voters' portal and can also file claims and objections.
Time of India
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
SIR prep: Send list of booth level agents, CEO tells parties
1 2 Kolkata: Bengal chief electoral officer Manoj Agarwal wrote to all political parties on Friday to send him their list of booth level agents (BLAs) so that procedure for the revision of electoral rolls could be started. Without the consent of BLAs, deletion of names from a voters' list is not possible. Bengal's booth count might increase to over 1 lakh ahead of the elections from the present 80,000, and this poses a challenge to parties since BLAs have to be voters of the booths they would represent. There are plans for a training programme for the BLAs to update them about their role in the roll revision process, an EC official said. In April, a training programme was held for BLAs of Bihar in Delhi. "The training is expected to give BLAs an overview of the importance in the election processes. The training would help them fulfil their responsibilities and familiarise them with various aspects of the election process, including the preparation, updating and revision of electoral rolls," the official said. BLAs are appointed by recognised political parties to keep a tab on the field level developments, and they can file their objections with the BLO during roll revision. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 8 speakeasy bars and restaurants in Singapore to check out CNA Undo An official said that while revising the voters' list, BLOs need to get their enquiry report approved by the BLAs. "If the BLAs want to delete any name for absentee voters, they can appeal through Form 7," the EC official said. Bengal had its last SIR in 2002, and BLAs, therefore, haven't had a role to play in a massive exercise like a roll revision in years. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata "When the SIR takes place, if the voters fail to fill up enumeration forms, their names would be deleted from the electoral rolls automatically, and the BLA would have little role to play. If a voter is absent, however, he can apply online or even apply through authorised representatives," the official said. District magistrates, who would be acting as district election officers, have also been asked to submit a list of the BLAs from their respective districts. Following the directives of the EC to restrict each booth to 1,200 voters, the CEO is planning to reorganise the booths, increasing booth count by over 20,000. On Wednesday, the EC asked the CEOs to get ready for the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls, for which the involvement of the BLAs is imperative. The letter from the EC stated, "The entire exercise of SIR will be incomplete without active participation of the political parties, and BLAs, appointed by the political parties, have to play an important role in the SIR activities. Therefore, all the political parties must be informed in writing, and they should be persuaded for the appointment of BLAs immediately so that these BLAs are in the field during SIR and they can bring out any kind of anomaly to notice. "
