SIR Dominates CEC’s Meeting With 11 Political Parties Ahead Of Bihar Polls
Political parties questioned large-scale voter deletions and urged the Election Commission to ensure transparency ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls.
By Dev Raj
Published : October 4, 2025 at 8:44 PM IST
Patna: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, which courted much controversy, rang across the meeting of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi with the representatives of 11 national and state political parties here on Saturday.
Several parties, especially those in the opposition, raised questions with regard to the striking off of voters from the electoral rolls and the reasons behind their non-inclusion and sought answers from the CEC and election commissioners.
The full Election Commission (EC) team is in Patna on a two-day visit to take stock of the poll preparedness of various concerned agencies at the grassroots. It met with the national and state parties active in the state to discuss their suggestions and aspirations.
The commission arrived on the heels of the conclusion of the SIR with the publication of the final electoral rolls on September 30. The exercise started on June 25 and took over three months.
The final roll has 7.42 crore voters in the state, around 47 lakh less than the 7.89 crore voters present in the rolls on June 24 before the advent of SIR.
Over 65 lakh voters were struck off in the draft electoral roll published as a part of the exercise on August 1. Later on, 3.66 lakh more were removed as “ineligible electors” and 21.53 lakh were added as ‘eligible electors’ to arrive at the final figures.
RJD demands transparency, raises appeal rights issue
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which is the largest opposition party with 77 seats in the 243-member legislative assembly, asked for details of 3.66 lakh voters who were removed from the rolls as ineligible electors.
“You have provided lump sum data of 3.66 lakh voters without providing any further details like who they are, which areas they hail from, and why their names were struck off,” an RJD delegation consisting of Aurangabad MP Abhay Kushwaha, state general secretary Chitranjan Gagan, and headquarters in-charge Mukund Singh said at the meeting.
The RJD delegation pointed out that, as per the rules of the EC, the voters struck off from the rolls have the right to appeal against it before the district election officer (district magistrate) within 15 days and before the chief electoral officer (CEO) within 30 days.
“How would they appeal when they have not been informed about the deletion of their names? Moreover, the announcement of polls will lead to the imposition of the model code of conduct and put a freeze on the electoral rolls. How will they get a chance to use their right to two appeals and vote in the polls?” the delegation asked.
The RJD also asked whether the 21.53 lakh new voters added to the final electoral roll are all new or hail from the 65 lakh names struck off in the draft electoral rolls. It demanded separate lists of the first-time voters and those who were added after they filed objections to the deletion of their names.
“Will the people who have filled out Form-6 for the inclusion of their names as voters but have not been issued the Election Photo Identity card be able to vote in the polls? The EC has a category called ‘not an Indian citizen’. It should make public its district-wise figures for Bihar,” the RJD added.
The party also added that the EC has separated voters belonging to a family to different polling booths in the name of ‘rationalisation’, which was not a good move, as some booths were two to three kilometres apart. It demanded a freeze on the step by the Bihar government to send money to the bank accounts of women and farmers, as well as a video recording of the counting of postal ballots.
“We have also demanded a ban on hate speech and speedy action on them because they tend to destroy social harmony. We have also sought elections in two phases,” Chitranjan said.
Congress seeks booth-wise data and action on hate speech.
The Congress delegation which attended the EC meeting consisted of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) president Rajesh Kumar, aka Rajesh Ram, legislature party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan, Kaukab Quadri and Sanjay Pandey.
“Transparency in additions and deletions of voters in the final electoral rolls is still very limited. The EC must publish booth-wise lists of added and deleted voters in line with the Supreme Court’s orders on the draft roll. The list must be published digitally and physically for every booth,” the Congress memorandum submitted to the CEC said.
The memorandum added that there was confusion among the voters due to booth rationalisation and demanded adequate publicity by the booth-level officers (BLOs) with regard to new polling booths.
The Congress demanded strict action against fake content, defamatory campaigns, hate and communal speeches, and also sought a suspension of ‘direct benefit transfers’ (DBT) during the election period. It also asked for CCTV inside polling booths to deter malpractices, as well as adequate and cooperative policing to instil confidence among voters.
“Our list of issues is only indicative at this stage, and we request the EC to intervene so that the forthcoming polls are conducted with the highest standards of fairness, credibility and transparency,” the Congress said in its memorandum.
CPIML flags voter ratio, demands clarity
The CPI-ML, which has at present 11 MLAs in the Assembly, sent a three-member delegation consisting of central committee members Santosh Sahar and Ranvijay Kumar and state standing committee member Kumar Parvez to the CEC meeting. They demanded booth-wise details of 3.66 lakh additional voters struck off in the final electoral roll published under SIR.
“We also demanded booth-wise details of 21.53 lakh voters who were added via ‘form 16’ and sought to know how many of them were new voters and how many were those who had applied for inclusion of their names after being deleted from the draft electoral rolls,” Parvez said.
“We also pointed to the fact that, as per the 2011 census, the sex ratio of Bihar was 914, while as per the SIR final electoral roll, it was just 892. This denotes a decline in female voters, and clarification was sought from the EC,” Parvez added.
The CPIML demanded that the polls should be held in two phases and the polling booths of Dalits, Muslims and other weaker sections should be ensured in their ‘mohallas’ (localities) to ensure free and fair elections.
CPM seeks explanation on 5 lakh extra voter additions
Submitting a memorandum to the CEC, a CPM delegation consisting of Sarvoday Sharma, Manoj Chandravanshi and Ashok Mishra pointed out that the EC had accepted in its affidavit in the Supreme Court that 16.53 lakh people submitted ‘form 6’ for the inclusion of their names, but the final addition in the final electoral rolls was to the tune of 21.53 lakh.
“How did this increase of 5 lakh voters happen? Please provide their EPIC numbers, booth numbers and addresses. We have received information that the number of people around the age of 50 is higher in the list of deceased electors. The EC should clarify on this,” the CPM delegation said.
The CPM leaders also pointed out that the flag marches conducted by the paramilitary and police forces create an environment of fear among the common people instead of the criminals in the villages and cities. They demanded that this be changed to foster confidence among the voters.
BJP and JDU back EC; call for single-phase polling
A delegation led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bihar unit president, Dilip Jaiswal, congratulated the EC for “preparing the electoral roll with transparency” and demanded Assembly polls in the state in a single phase. It put forth 16 suggestions and demands to the Commission members.
“We have sought the shifting of booths located near religious places to new government buildings. We have also demanded intensive patrolling by the security forces, checking of boats and suspension of their plying two days before the poll date,” Jaiswal said.
The BJP, which is a part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), asked for proper identification of voters who come to polling booths, including women who come wearing burqas (long, loose garments covering the entire body from head to feet, worn in public by Muslim women). It also sought adequate protection for Dalits, extremely backward castes (EBCs) and weaker sections of society so that musclemen cannot threaten them during elections.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) appealed to the CEC and election commissioners to hold elections in a single phase.
“The Bihar Assembly election should be held in a single phase because crime and Naxalism are no longer issues in the state. When polling in Maharashtra could be in just one phase, why cannot the same be done in Bihar?” JDU national executive president Sanjay Kumar Jha said.
Representatives of the Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, National People’s Party, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party also gave their suggestions at the meeting.
CEC on the meeting with political parties
CEC Gyanesh Kumar called the political parties “significant stakeholders of a strong democracy” and appealed to them to “fully participate in every stage of the election process by appointing their polling and counting agents”.
A communique by the EC said that the political parties suggested that the elections “be scheduled immediately after the Chhath festival and completed in as few phases as possible” to maximise the participation of voters.
“The political parties thanked the Commission for completing the historic SIR exercise and purifying the electoral rolls and reiterated their faith and trust in the electoral processes,” it added.
The EC asserted that the participating parties praised the recent initiatives, such as limiting the maximum number of voters per polling station to 1200 and ensuring the counting of postal ballots before the penultimate round of EVM (electronic voting machine) counting is done.
EC reviews security, social media, and election logistics.
Later in the day, the Commission held a detailed review meeting with the divisional commissioners, inspector and deputy inspector generals of police, district election officers or DEOs (district magistrates), and superintendents of police (SPs) on every aspect of election planning, EVM management, logistics, polling station rationalisation, infrastructure, training of election staff, seizures, law and order, voter awareness, and outreach.
It also instructed all DEOs and SPs to monitor social media for fake news and respond swiftly with appropriate legal action, if required.
The Commission directed all the officers and state administrations to act with complete impartiality to ensure the prompt resolution of complaints and grievances of the political parties.
Read More
