Bihar voter list revision: 20 lakh deceased, over 7 lakh duplicate voters – EC gives update on SIR exercise | India News

Representative picture (File)

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday shared particulars of its ongoing particular intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, revealing that 98.01 per cent of voters have been coated within the exercise to this point, as of July 23.According to officers, the revision has recognized practically 20 lakh deceased voters and 28 lakh people who’ve completely migrated from their registered addresses. Moreover, 7 lakh voters had been discovered enrolled at multiple location, 1 lakh had been marked as untraceable, and round 15 lakh voter types weren’t returned.The EC additionally acknowledged that 7.17 crore voter types, roughly 90.89% of the entire, have been obtained and digitised in the course of the course of.

This is the primary time in 22 years that such a revision is being performed in Bihar. The important goal is to scrub up the voter list by eradicating ineligible, duplicate, or non-existent entries whereas guaranteeing that every one eligible residents are included.The transfer comes amid authorized scrutiny, with the (*7*)Supreme Court and opposition events questioning the EC’s June 24 directive to start a nationwide SIR, beginning with Bihar. In its affidavit defending the choice, the ballot panel stated:“The SIR exercise adds to the purity of elections by weeding out ineligible persons from the electoral roll. The entitlement to vote flows from Article 326 read with Sections 16 and 19 of the RP Act 1950 and Section 62 of the RP Act 1951 which contains certain qualifications with respect to citizenship, age, and ordinary residency. An ineligible person has no right to vote, and thus, cannot claim a violation of Articles 19 and 21 in this regard.“The EC additional clarified that whereas paperwork akin to Aadhaar, voter ID playing cards, and ration playing cards are usually not necessary for inclusion, they’re being utilized in a restricted approach for id verification in the course of the SIR-2025 exercise.“In addition to the legal concerns already articulated hereinabove, these documents are, in fact, already being considered by the Commission for the limited purpose of identity, during the SIR process,” the affidavit added.