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EYE ON INDIA JULY 18, 2025 | The Indian Eye 6

Battle for Bihar:

Election Commission Under Fire

Amid Electoral Roll Controversy

With Bihar heading for assembly polls in November, a furious political storm has erupted

over the decision to revise electoral rolls, triggering allegations of “election theft” and raising concerns
over voter disenfranchisement and institutional bias

OUR BUREAU
Patna/New Delhi
s Bihar inches closer to its high-stakes as-
sembly election, a controversy surrounding
Athe revision of the electoral rolls has snow-
balled into a national political issue. At the heart
of the storm is the Election Commission of India’s
(ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive—an
exercise meant to update the voter list but now
mired in allegations of bias, suppression, and polit-
ical manipulation.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has led the
charge, accusing the ECI of “hatching a conspira-
cy for chunav chori (election theft)” and acting as
“a BJP wing.” Drawing a parallel with Maharash-
tra, where he claims over one crore dubious voters
were added between the Lok Sabha and assembly
elections, Gandhi warned that a similar “theft” is
underway in Bihar. “We told the EC to share voter
lists and videography. They didn’t. Now they are
doing the same thing in Bihar,” he alleged during a
rally in Bhubaneswar. District Election Officer and District Magistrate Aman Sameer carries out a house-to-house visit to review the ongoing activities
The allegations, though dismissed by the ECI, related to the special intensive revision campaign of the voter list in Saran (Bihar) on Thursday (@Saran_dm X/ANI Photo)
have found support among opposition leaders and
civil society organisations. A batch of petitions Booth Level Agents (BLAs) from all major parties, just another poll-bound state—it is a crucial bat-
challenging the ECI’s move has reached the Su- are on the ground verifying voter data. The digiti- tleground in the run-up to the 2026 general elec-
preme Court, with petitioners including RJD MP sation of these forms through the ECINet platform tions. A skewed voter list could affect hundreds of
Manoj Jha, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and ac- is reportedly progressing smoothly. seats and influence the national narrative around
tivist Yogendra Yadav. They argue that the sudden Still, the scale and timing of the revision raise electoral integrity. For the opposition-led INDIA
documentation requirements—particularly proof important questions. Why is such a massive update bloc, any perceived manipulation of the voter rolls
of citizenship—are excessive and may disenfran- being undertaken just months before the election? strikes at the core of democratic legitimacy.
chise marginalised communities. Critics argue that past experiences point to a pat- Even as the ECI maintains that the process is
At the heart of the opposition’s concern is the tern of errors and selective inclusion or deletion of routine and within its constitutional mandate, the
ECI’s decision to not accept widely held documents voters. For instance, in Maharashtra, opposition perception of partiality continues to grow. The Su-
like Aadhaar and ration cards as valid proof during parties had alleged that unverified voters mysteri- preme Court’s upcoming hearing on July 28 could
the SIR process. Although the Supreme Court ously appeared on rolls, swinging the outcome in be pivotal. If the court finds the ECI’s procedures
stopped short of staying the revision, it urged the key seats. Though never conclusively proven, those wanting, it could mandate changes or even delay
ECI to reconsider its stance and provide reasons if allegations still haunt the credibility of the elector- the implementation of the revised rolls—an out-
it refuses to accept commonly used IDs. The court al process. come that may significantly alter the electoral cal-
observed that Aadhaar is already used widely for In Bihar, the risks are even higher. The state’s endar.
identity verification and called the timeline “very electorate is not only vast but also socio-economi- For now, the ECI is racing against time to
short” for such a critical exercise. cally vulnerable. ADR and PUCL, in their petition, complete the exercise by July 25. But the larger
Despite mounting criticism, the ECI insists warned that the new requirements could dispro- question remains: can an electoral process be con-
that the revision is a constitutional necessity and portionately affect the poor, Dalits, Adivasis, and sidered free and fair when the very list of voters is
is being conducted transparently. According to its women—many of whom may lack access to land under such intense scrutiny and suspicion?
latest data, more than 74% of Bihar’s 7.9 crore vot- or birth documents demanded by the ECI. “This is As political temperatures rise and legal bat-
ers have already submitted Enumeration Forms. not revision; this is exclusion by design,” one peti- tles intensify, Bihar’s voters may find themselves
Over 77,000 Booth Level Officers (BLOs), assist- tioner argued in court. caught in the crossfire of a larger war—one over
ed by more than 4 lakh volunteers and 1.56 lakh The implications are significant. Bihar is not the very soul of India’s democratic process.

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