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ECI's Special Electoral Roll Revision Special Electoral Roll Revision In Bihar

Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav alleged on Tuesday that the ongoing 'special intensive revision' of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar was a move to cut votes from the strong booths and constituencies of the Opposition, and add votes to the booths at which the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was stronger. Punching holes in the entire exercise, the RJD leader denounced it as being "full of confusion, uncertainty and repression", and demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) "immediately cancel all confusing orders and issue clear, final and simple directions." "Over 90 per cent people of Bihar believe that the ECI has already identified the strong polling booths of the Opposition on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and the special intensive revision is just a ploy to cut votes from such booths, constituencies and add votes to the booths at which they are strong," Tejashwi alleged. The RJD leader demanded that the condition of taking up the electoral roll of 2003 as the base and the compulsory provisions of providing documents should be cancelled. He added that his party has copies of the electoral rolls of 2014 and January 2025, and would not allow their hooliganism to prevail, come what may. "The ECI should adopt practical and alternative steps for verification of voters and call an all-party meeting to re-plan the entire revision exercise. The entire issue should be monitored by the judiciary or the Parliament because it is not just a battle of names. It is the battle of existence," Tejashwi added. He also questioned why the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, has not given his reaction on such a serious issue and has adopted the vanishing trick at a time when he should address every single point among our queries, doubts and complaints. Asserting that the revision was a very serious and sensitive issue connected to voters and their right to vote, Tejashwi referred to the several changes brought by the ECI after the announcement of the exercise. "The ECI changed the eligibility date, the kind of documents needed, the process and the deadline. What kind of revision is this, in which new orders come every week and old ones are changed? Is the ECI not certain about what it wants?" the RJD leader asked at a press conference on Tuesday evening. Tejashwi, who happens to be the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, questioned whether the plan of this entire campaign was shared with any political party, whether there was any all-party meeting on it, and whether it was not a one-sided and secretive 'cleaning drive'? The RJD leader added that the arguments given by the ECI for conducting the special intensive revision of electoral rolls put it in the dock over its intentions. "The ECI says that the previous intensive revision in Bihar was conducted in 2003, after which issues like urbanisation, lack of timely update of information, and listing of fake and foreign people in the electoral rolls cropped up. It decided to go for intensive revision once again in the state. It has put July 1, 2025, as the eligibility cut-off date," Tejashwi said. "If there were such issues, why did the process of intensive revision not start one or two years ago to ensure that there was no panic. The Bihar Assembly polls have to be completed by November. How could it be possible to conduct such a massive exercise in just 25 days?" Tejashwi further asked. The RJD leader slammed the ECI for the provision that the names of the voters would be deleted if the Booth Level Officer (BLO) visits their residence thrice and does not find them. "This makes the physical presence of voters necessary. Those who work far from their homes or outside the state would become its victims. Such people normally return to their villages during elections. They would be cut off from the electoral rolls in the absence of physical verification. A majority of them would be the tribals, Dalits, Backward Classes and minorities," Tejashwi said. Raising the issue that voters born after December 2, 2004, will have to submit the identification papers of themselves and their parents, in which the Aadhaar and ration cards would not be accepted, the RJD leader pointed out that the ECI has recognised only 11 documents for the purpose. "The ECI should tell the percentage of people who have the 11 documents of Bihar, including how many of them are employees of public sector units (PSUs), and have identity cards or payment orders. What is the percentage of people who have the identity cards, certificates, or documents issued by the government, local authorities, banks, post offices, LIC and PSUs prior to July 1, 1987," Tejashwi asked. Tejashwi dared the ECI further to tell the percentage of people who have birth certificates issued by competent authorities, or have passports, or have matriculation or university certificates, or permanent resident certificates, or forest rights certificates, or OBC, SC, ST certificates. "Everybody knows the population of various castes as per the caste-based survey that was conducted. Have so many caste certificates been issued? What is the percentage of people registered in the National Register of Citizens? How many are enrolled in the family register prepared by the state or local authorities? How many have land or house allotment certificates issued by the government? We can simply guess how many people would be ticked off from the voters' list and how many will remain," Tejashwi said. The RJD leader asserted that there would be many people who would not have the hard copy or photocopy of the required documents at home, and a large number would lack their colour photos clicked with a white background to attach to the enumeration forms provided by the BLOs. He also raised the spectre of floods that have already started looming over the state, and have the potential of temporarily displacing a large number of people. "Around 73 per cent of Bihar is flood-prone. The monsoon is here, and people living in the flood-prone areas are already looking to shift to higher places. Most of them are Dalits, backwards, extremely backwards and minorities. Isn't this a conspiracy to remove their names from the electoral rolls?" Tejashwi asked. The Special Intensive Revision and the burden of proof The special intensive revision began on June 25, but the Bihar government officials began distributing enumeration forms on Saturday (June 28). Though the verification is to be completed by July 26, the entire exercise would end on September 30 with the publication of the updated electoral rolls. Bihar has at present 7.90 crore electors, of whom the names of 4.96 crore were already present in the electoral rolls when the last such revision was carried out in 2003. These electors just have to verify themselves by filling out the enumeration forms and submitting them. As per the provisions of the special intensive revision, people born before July 1, 1987, will have to submit any document establishing their own date and place of birth. However, the younger people born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004, will have to submit documents to prove their date and place of birth, along with similar documents of one of their parents. Those born after December 2, 2004, will have to submit evidence of the date and place of birth of themselves and both their parents. Opposition parties across the country have already criticised the move as a method of disenfranchising people and implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) through the back door.

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