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Indian Express
12-08-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Yogendra Yadav, Rahul Shastri write on SIR: In Bihar, the edge of disenfranchisement
Here is a simple yet critical question for the ongoing SIR exercise: What proportion of Bihar's adult residents possess at least one of the 11 documents that the Election Commission of India (ECI) asks of them? This is a vital question as this would decide who can become a voter, first in Bihar and then in the rest of the country. Finally, we have an official, if bizarre, response from the ECI, filed in the Supreme Court as a counter affidavit (ECI-CA). Believe it or not, the ECI submits that the total number of eligibility documents is approximately three times the 7.9 crore potential voters of Bihar. What, pray, is the basis of this extraordinary claim? Fortunately, the ECI provides a statistical table (ECI-CA: pages 35-39) on each of these documents. While its conclusions are dubious, it does provide some official data otherwise not easily available in the public domain. Here we fact-check the claims made by the EC and revise the initial estimate offered by one of the authors. (Rahul Shastri, The Hindu Data Point, August 1, 2025) The accompanying table analyses ECI-CA claims for each of the documents. Column 2 reports figures claimed by the ECI. Since it has not presented the figures as a proportion of the population, we have done so in brackets against each figure in per cent of the total potential voters. Column 3 presents the actual position based on publicly available statistics, including the ones used by ECI-CA. Figures in Column 3 are presented as the percentage of the eligible electorate of 18-40 years, since this is the segment of the potential electorate whose names may not figure in the Electoral Roll (ER) of 2003 and hence who may be required to submit one of these 11 documents. The first category of the six documents does not need much comment as these are either irrelevant or negligible, and in any case, they are not contested. The NRC does not apply to Bihar. Since the requirement for any I-card or document issued by the government, LIC or PSU is that it must have been issued prior to 1987, the ECI admits that it is virtually non-existent. Similarly, since the population of Scheduled Tribes in Bihar is merely 1.3 per cent and there were only 191 applications under the Forest Rights Act, this is negligible. The ECI data is a slight overestimate for government employees' I-cards, as they include pensioners who are not relevant to the 18-40 age group. As for passports, the ECI data may be a small overestimate, as it includes invalid passports of those who have passed away. The figures quoted by the ECI for matriculation certificates are for irrelevant reference years (1980 to 2025) and need to be restricted to 2001-2023. Thus, our estimate of 2.06 crore is much less than the 2.91 crore claimed by the ECI. However, since the proportion of matriculation is higher among the relevant age group (18-40 years), our estimate of 43.3 per cent is higher than 36.8 per cent for the entire adult population used by the ECI or that of 14 per cent for the entire population used in some other estimates. This may go up a few points if CBSE and ICSE matriculates are added, but that may be balanced by discounting a significant number of permanent migrants in this category. Let's now turn to the remaining five documents where the ECI-CA makes astronomical claims with scant basis. The claims for permanent residence certificates are in the same breath, titanic, self-contradictory and deluding. In the first sentence, the ECI-CA states, 'Permanent residence certificate is not issued in Bihar'. Therefore, the relevant number should be zero. Yet in the next sentence, it claims — without citing any source — that 13.9 crore residence certificates have been issued in Bihar from 2011-25, a number which exceeds Bihar's population. The claim is untenable for another reason: Residence certificates issued in Bihar have a validity of one year, and hence every year, lakhs of people reapply for them. On the caste certificate, similarly, the ECI makes indefensible claims on the basis of total certificates issued during 2011-25 and not the number of unique persons to whom they have been issued. A person can apply simultaneously for OBC certificate for the state as well as the central government. The latter is valid just for a year. Besides, as caste certificates are mainly used by those aspiring for higher studies or government jobs, there is no reason to believe that the proportion of 18-40 year olds with caste certificates will be half of those with matriculation. The India Household Development Survey II had estimated in 2011-12 that only 16 per cent households had someone with a caste certificate. The ECI's claim on family registers makes a mountain out of a molehill. There is a valid but small number of 15.8 lakh individuals with Vanshavali certificates issued by the Panchayati Raj department (5.8 lakh in 18-40 age group). To this, the ECI adds 2 crore names contained in the Vikas Register 2.0 of the Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission, an internal administrative register to which no individual except government officials have access. The ECI uses a grossly misleading method of counting all the birth certificates issued between 2001-24, whereas in the same paragraph, it concedes that those born after 2007 are not eligible to be on the electoral rolls of 2025. The correct figure is less than 2 per cent. NFHS-3 reported that just 2.8 per cent of births between 2001-05 had corresponding birth certificates; this proportion is bound to be much smaller for our cohort group (1985-2007), the majority of which was born before 2001. In the house allotment certificate, the ECI adds up 1.18 crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojanas (Gramin and Urban) and the Indira Aawas Yojana. But these beneficiaries receive a sanction letter and not a house allotment certificate. They do not qualify for the 'land/house allocation documents' required under SIR. What then is the realistic overall number of persons who may have at least one of the 11 documents? We must remember that the figures given in the third column are not additive but overlapping; there is a negligible proportion of those who are government employees or have passports or have birth certificates but are not amongst the 43.3 per cent who are matriculates. Of those in the table who may not be matriculates are only the landless allotted land by the government (1.2 per cent) and those included in the family registers (1.2 per cent). Hence, the proportion of individuals in the 18-40 age group with eligibility documents is estimated to be around 45.7 per cent (43.3 per cent + 1.2 per cent + 1.2 per cent) plus some exceptions like a small proportion of those who possess caste certificates but are not matriculates. Let us round it off, on the upper end, to 50 per cent. The conclusion is stark: If the ECI strictly adheres to its arbitrary decision of asking for one of the 11 documents specified in its ('indicative but not exhaustive') list, at least 50 per cent of those whose names do not figure in the Electoral Rolls of 2003 may face deletion from the voters' list. As per the latest estimate (based on unofficial data from two districts), the ECI has been able to locate less than one-third of the electors on the 2003 rolls. Thus, the remaining two-thirds, 4.8 crore, would be asked for documents. Unless the Supreme Court intervenes and the ECI is made to modify or relax this requirement, 2.4 crore of the 7.24 crore electors on the current Draft Electoral Rolls face a loss of voting rights. This would be the largest disenfranchisement ever recorded in the history of any electoral democracy. Shastri and Yadav work with the national team of Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan. Yadav has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the SIR
Indian Express
11-08-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Tejashwi Yadav writes: Bihar asked for special status, got ‘Special Exclusionary Revision'
Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is not at all what it claims to be. While the Election Commission of India (ECI) frames this exercise as aimed at the cleaning up voter lists and ensuring electoral integrity, the reality is starkly different. The numbers paint a deeply distressing picture of exclusion. Of the 7.89 crore registered voters, around 94 lakh eligible adults are expected to be dropped, according to several estimates. Others estimate that the figure could go much above beyond the imagination of anyone so far. This is not a revision for inclusion. It is a deletion on an unprecedented scale, and hence can be termed as 'Special intensive deletion exercise'. The process has been rushed and chaotic from the start. A detailed review and updation of the state electoral roll was completed by January 2025. The roll was found to be robust. Officials were updating the roll well into June. Suddenly, the ECI called it faulty and junked it, ordering an unprecedented exercise to verify voters from scratch. This abrupt reversal lacks justification and suggests predetermined conclusions rather than genuine concerns about electoral integrity. The implementation timeline compounds these problems. The SIR was initiated merely four months before the election, a period when voter roll revision becomes logistically and administratively challenging, particularly in a flood-prone and high-migration state like Bihar. The compressed timeframe from June to September leaves voters little opportunity to navigate bureaucratic hurdles, further exacerbated by digital infrastructure gaps and the very real digital divide in the state. Even small-scale deletions could tilt the results in closely contested seats. This creates suspicions about the political motivations behind the exercise. Bihar's vulnerabilities make these exclusions particularly cruel. The state faces annual flooding that displaces hundreds of thousands of residents. Migration for work is a survival strategy for millions of families. These realities mean documents get lost, addresses change frequently, and bureaucratic record-keeping fails to capture the lived experiences of Bihar's citizens. Our long-standing demand for special status and a special developmental package for our state has been to underline and address these vulnerabilities. The citizens of Bihar got neither the special status nor any special package. What we got instead is a special tool for weakening the very idea of citizenship. According to Rahul Shastri and Yogendra Yadav, the statistical evidence reveals Bihar's SIR as an exercise in mass deletion, not revision. Using the 'missing voters' approach (analogous to Amartya Sen's 'missing women' concept), the data shows a catastrophic shortfall of 94 lakh eligible adults who should be on Bihar's electoral rolls. The state's Electors to Adult Population Ratio, according to the Shastri and Yadav, has plummeted from a healthy 97 per cent to just 88 per cent, a dramatic 9 percentage point drop that represents the largest one-time deletion of voters in Indian electoral history. The SIR in Bihar is explicitly a pilot programme for national implementation. The ECI had on July 5 directed all state polling chiefs to complete 'pre-revision activities', indicating preparations for nationwide rollout. If this model is replicated across India, migrant populations, informal workers, and marginalised communities will bear the brunt of the impossible documentation requirements designed to exclude rather than include. This is a systematic drive toward exclusion, poorly planned and implemented with troubling opacity, obstinacy, and needless bluster by a constitutional body. It needs to be challenged with a strong democratic spirit. India's democracy rests on universal adult franchise and equal citizenship. These principles prohibit creating tiers of citizens on any criteria, much less on the ability to produce documents. The Bihar revision does exactly that. Citizens with access to specific documents retain voting rights. Those without lose their fundamental right to participate in a democracy. This violates constitutional guarantees and democratic norms. If replicated nationally, this model could disenfranchise approximately nine crore Indians, directly contradicting the Supreme Court's call for 'mass inclusion, not mass exclusion,' transforming electoral management from democratic participation into systematic voter suppression. Legal challenges have also highlighted these concerns, but implementation continues while cases remain pending. That the constitutional courts are not adjudicating on electoral matters with the urgency they deserve has become a serious and persistent concern. The courts now routinely delay hearings in such matters, as if waiting for their implications to fully play out. Citizens need relief when their rights are being snatched away, not after the exercise is finished. The ECI must accept widely used identity documents like Aadhaar cards. It must provide transparent appeals processes for excluded voters. The rushed timeline must be extended to allow proper verification and correction. Most importantly, the ECI must abandon this rushed special revision policy template before it wreaks havoc on our citizens elsewhere. Democracy thrives on inclusion, not exclusion. Electoral integrity requires ensuring that legitimate voters can fully participate in the elections. Bihar's Special Intensive Revision represents a fundamental departure from this principle. It must be resisted now, before this experiment in exclusion becomes the norm for Indian democracy. The stakes could not be higher. The Special Intensive Revision exercise in Bihar is not just flawed — it is blatantly exclusionary. It denotes a constitutional fraud being perpetrated on the people, particularly the poor and marginalised, under the guise of electoral hygiene. Stripping citizens of their fundamental right to vote through opaque and selective processes is a betrayal of democratic values and a direct assault on the spirit of the Constitution. The writer is the Leader of the Opposition Bihar Legislative Assembly
The Hindu
31-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
What data shows about the SIR exercise conducted in Bihar
This article forms a part of the Data Point newsletter curated by The Hindu's Data team. To get the newsletter in your inbox, subscribe here As the Supreme Court is hearing a batch of pleas challenging the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to undertake the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of electoral rolls ahead of Bihar's Assembly elections, we at the Data team, published some stories to explain the context better using numbers. The SIR was initiated due to what the ECI noted to be huge additions and deletions to Bihar's electoral roll due to migration to other parts of the country and rapid urbanisation. As per the Indian Constitution, the ECI is obligated to make sure only citizens' names are on the electoral roll. The last such revision in Bihar was conducted in 2003, wherein enumerators were sent to verify names from door-to-door. The present SIR entails each voter submitting enumeration forms to their Booth Level Officers. No further submissions were required of those whose names were already on the 2003 electoral roll. However, electors registered after this date were required to submit documents establishing the date and place of their birth (and of their parents in some cases). This task was set to be completed in about a month. The process of getting voters to submit these documents began on June 28, 2025. Following this, Rahul Shastri, a researcher associated with Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, wrote a piece for The Hindu's Data Point, titled, 'Voter verification drive in Bihar: too little time, too many hurdles'. Mr. Shastri wrote about how this verification process will 'disproportionately disenfranchise' poor and deprived electors. Further, the piece questions the ECI's assumption that just 2.94 crore individuals will need to submit their eligibility documents. According to him, this number excludes the population who have passed away in the years since 2003, as well as those who have permanently migrated from Bihar. This week, we published a story that questions a different aspect of the exercise, which is the availability of the required 11 documents amongst migrant workers in Bihar, as well as the awareness among them of which documents to submit. The piece, titled 'Bihar's migrants lack SIR documents: Data' was written by Anindita Adhikari, faculty at the National Law School University of India, Bangalore and Rajendran Narayanan, faculty at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. Here's what published over the last two weeks: For every child free for adoption in India, 13 parents wait in line: Data We sourced data from an RTI reply received from the Ministry of Women and Child Development and concluded that India's adoption system faces a severe mismatch between the children legally available and the thousands of parents waiting. This backlog reflects systemic inefficiencies and bureaucratic delays in the Central Adoption Resource Authority's processes. Damned if they do, or don't: AIADMK's impossible choice on alliance with BJP We put out a piece highlighting the Catch-22 situation that the AIADMK finds itself in. Data from previous elections shows that in a three-cornered contest, the AIADMK struggles to win against a united DMK front. However, associating with the BJP risks leaving its ideology, alienating minority voters, and further weakening AIADMK's base. The article concludes that both options could backfire: allying could damage the party's long-term image, while going solo may lead to electoral defeat, leaving the AIADMK with no clear winning strategy. Boys continue to outnumber girls in private schools in India | Data As per data, while parents increasingly prefer private schooling over public, a considerable share of them still show a slight preference for enrolling their sons over their daughters. In Odisha, crimes against women mount as courts and police falter Amidst regularly reported cases of sexual harassment and related suicides and deaths, Odisha has the highest rate of crimes against women in the country, as per data from the National Crime Records Bureau. Data also show that only 10% of such cases end in conviction. Here are this week's News in Numbers: 8,947 Number of individuals arrested under the UAPA between 2018 and 2022 Only two cases filed under the stringent anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, were quashed by courts across the country between 2018 and 2022, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai presented data from the latest NCRB report, which showed that 6,503 individuals were charge-sheeted under the UAPA during the period, while 252 people were convicted for the offences. Source: PTI 51 Number of safety lapses found in Air India annual audit report India's aviation watchdog found safety lapses at Air India in its July audit, including lack of adequate training for some pilots, use of unapproved simulators and a poor rostering system, according to a government report seen by Reuters. The annual audit was not related to the deadly Boeing 787 crash last month that killed 260 people in Ahmedabad, but its findings come as the airline faces renewed scrutiny after the accident. Source: Reuters 95.1 Share of Indian households with access to toilets in percentage. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Jal Shakti V Somanna quoted findings from the Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2023-24 conducted by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation. In terms of waste segregation, only 39.9 per cent households reported segregating waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable categories, the survey said. Source: PTI
Mint
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Why Election Commission's Bihar SIR exercise has received widespread criticism
On the face of it, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar ordered by the Election Commission (EC), should not be considered unexceptionable. Article 324 of the Constitution empowers the EC to oversee elections. Article 326 directs that the franchise be limited to all adult Indian citizens. The updating of electoral rolls is supported by the Registration of Electoral Rules, 1960 and the Representation of Peoples' Act, 1950. The last SIR in Bihar was undertaken in 2003 and there have been annual summary revisions in many states since then. So, why has the electoral roll revision in Bihar, going to the polls in a few months' time, stoked such widespread discontent? Critics see in it a fiendish move, an audacious attempt at mass disenfranchisement of Indian citizens. Wrote social activist Yogendra Yadav in a column: ``In effect this is, as critics have alleged, a move at votebandi, following notebandi (demonetisation) and deshbandi (lockdown). Dumb at best and diabolic at worst, this draconian policy shift could end up taking away the only right that crores of ordinary Indians have had — the right to vote.'' The outrage may well lie in the explanation the EC has offered for the revision. These include migration, need to weed out foreign illegal immigrants, to include newly eligible voters and delete the names of the dead. The EC's order is clear: Every voter will have to fill out the enumeration form with a current photograph, signatures, some basic details, plus proof of citizenship. Those who had their names on the electoral rolls (ER) of 2003 (presuming the exact name and residence have not changed) have a shortcut. They can attach a copy of the page carrying their name in the ER-2003. That will be accepted as proof of their citizenship. The EC has claimed that 4.96 crore people (63% of those currently on the ER) will be able to take this shortcut, leaving less than 3 crores to prove their eligibility. Rahul Shastri in The Hindu debunks this claim saying that the EC did not consider the number of deaths, migration and shifting of residence since 2003! He demonstrates that the correct figure is closer to 3.16 crore. In a first, the onus of being on the voters' list has been shifted from the state to the citizen. Those who fail to submit fresh enumeration forms by July 25 will automatically be left out of the draft rolls. Also, for the first time, every person would be required to provide documentary proof of their citizenship to qualify to be on the voters' list. In other words, it is not enough to have an Aadhaar card, the EC's photo identity card, ration card or MGNREGA job card, as none of them would be accepted by the ECI to enrol someone as a voter. While political hackles have been raised with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and CM-aspirant Tejaswi Yadav announcing a general strike on July 9, the matter has reached the Supreme Court. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has approached the apex court questioning the manner and timing of the EC's decision to undertake the SIR of electoral rolls. In its public interest litigation (PIL), ADR said SIR needs to be set aside, as insisting on people to prove their citizenship and that of their parents within short notice and without relying upon easily available identity documents such as Aadhaar card will potentially disenfranchise nearly 3 crore voters. A Special Summary Revision (SSR) was carried out in the state between October 29, 2024, and January 6, 2025, to address issues of migration and ineligible voters due to death or other reasons. Pointing this out, the petition said, 'There is no reason for such a drastic exercise in a poll bound state in such a short period of time, violating the right to vote of lakhs of voters.' The Supreme Court on July 7 agreed to hear on July 10 a batch of petitions challenging the decision of the EC. Says DM Diwakar, former director at Patna's AN Sinha Institute and currently with the Development Research Institute, Jalsain: ``Let us face the truth — the kind of proof the ECI is demanding, simply does not exist with most people because the state never supplied them the papers it demands of them today.'' According to him, it is tragic that at this time of the year, when the farmers are facing a drought-like situation, slogging to cultivate their crops, the EC is demanding documents that they may not be able to produce in time. In addition, there are other implications, says Diwakar. ``Many voters were born here. If left out of the electoral roll, they may not qualify for benefits and government programmes in the future. It is a downright anti-poor move.' A consensus on the number of voters is also elusive, for the moment. The EC on July 6 issued an advertisement in all the vernacular dailies urging the 7.8 crore voters to fill their enumeration form and submit it to their respective block level officers (BLOs) without attaching any document. The draft roll will be published in August wherein any voter may raise objections or get the anomalies corrected. The final draft of the voters' list will be published in September. Political sources suggest that the main trigger for the SIR may be to weed out illegal Bangladeshi migrants in some parts of Bihar, notably the Seemanchal area, which constitutes the districts of Purnea, Kishanganj, Araria and Katihar. The BJP has for years campaigned against illegal migrants. Political analyst Amitabh Tewari says it is important to focus on citizenship rights. ``It is interesting to note that Form 6 of the EC, which admits fresh voters, does not have a column on citizenship rights. Noone can say, why. So, what should have been done in the first instance, is now being done in Bihar.' The bone of contention is not so much the legalities but the manner of its execution. Former chief election commissioner TS Krishnamurthy told this reporter: ``The CEC is well within its rights to call for a revision of the voters list. While some people have expressed concern over the timing, the EC is more than ready. They have already appointed 77,895 BLOs and 20,603 more are expected to join in.'' He adds, however, that such decisions are taken in consultation with political parties and that needs time. In effect this is, as critics have alleged, a move at votebandi, following notebandi (demonetisation) and deshbandi (lockdown). And therein may lie the difference. Analyst Diwakar points out that unlike 2025, in 2003, when it was last held, the SIR was an extensive exercise with several rounds of discussions with political parties, before the final announcement. This decision by the EC, announced on June 24, was a bolt out of the blue.
The Wire
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Wire
EC's Directive to Update Voter Lists in Bihar Risks Mass Exclusion. Here's Why
Pavan Korada 2 minutes ago By focusing on documents like the 10th-grade matriculation certificate as proof, the ECI risks penalising people for the very poverty and lack of education they have long endured. A voter gives his thumb impression at a polling booth before casting his vote for the first phase of Bihar Assembly Election, amid the coronavirus pandemic, at Chenari police station in Rohtas district, Wednesday, October 28, 2020. Photo: PTI New Delhi: A new directive from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to update voter lists in the state of Bihar has raised fears of mass exclusion. The move requires crores of voters to prove their eligibility, but analysis suggests the required documents are often unavailable to the state's poorest and most marginalised communities. According to research by analyst Rahul Shastri, the rule effectively demands that 4.74 crore people – nearly 60% of Bihar's electorate – prove their eligibility. The main problem lies with the type of proof required. By focusing on documents like the 10th-grade matriculation certificate, the ECI risks penalising people for the very poverty and lack of education they have long endured. An analysis of government data reveals a threefold problem based on geography, demography, and the state's own administrative history. Table: Document Availability for Bihar's Adult Population The data is clear. With the most common documents like Aadhaar and Ration Cards not on the list, the burden of proof falls on scarce certificates. Geography of exclusion The focus on the matriculation certificate creates the first problem. Shastri's analysis estimates that between 2.4 and 2.6 crore people in the 18-40 age group may not have this document. Official literacy and poverty data show this burden will fall most heavily on a distinct belt of deprived districts. Female literacy rates are a strong indicator of these vulnerable areas. The 2011 census recorded Bihar's female literacy at just over 53%, a full 20 percentage points behind the male rate. The districts with the lowest overall literacy in 2011 are a map of this vulnerability: Purnia (52.5%), Sitamarhi (53.5%) and Katihar (53.6%). These areas of educational deprivation align almost perfectly with the map of multidimensional poverty shown above. Chart: Lowest Literacy Districts Impact on caste and religion The data shows the rule is not just geographic in its impact, but also demographic. It is most likely to affect Bihar's historically marginalised social groups: Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), and the state's large Muslim minority. Chart: Poverty by Social Group The 2022 Bihar Caste Survey shows the educational gap. While nearly 14% of the General category population are graduates, the figure falls to just under 8% for EBCs and below 6% for SCs. The Muslim population's graduation rate is also a low 7.6%. Chart: Graduation Gap by Social Group Chart: Pregnancy Registration by Religion Lack of birth certificates For the many without a school certificate, the birth certificate is the only other option. In reality, it is a rare document in Bihar. The NFHS-5 (2019-21) found that only 56% of children under five have a birth certificate, and only 75% of births were even registered. This raises a critical question: if the state fails to register a majority of births today, how can it expect older citizens to produce documents that were often unavailable to them in the past? So, the ECI's verification drive in Bihar is based on a set of documents that a large part of the population does not possess. Analysis shows this creates a clear pattern of exclusion, affecting the state's poorest districts, its marginalised castes, and its Muslim minority. Critics and analysts argue that without expanding the list of accepted documents to include widely-held IDs like Aadhaar and ration cards, the exercise risks preventing crores of eligible citizens from voting. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
