Bihar Voter List Finalized Amid SC Shadow: 50 Lakh Names Deleted, Legality Still Unsettled

Patna: The Election Commission of India (EC) has published the final electoral roll for the poll-bound state of Bihar following a three-month Special Intensive Revision (SIR), bringing the total number of electors to 7.4 crore—a drop of approximately 6 per cent from the 7.89 crore voters recorded in June.

However, the finalization of the list does not secure its fate. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hold its final hearing on the legality of the SIR process on October 7, a week after the list's publication. The Court has explicitly warned that if any wrongdoing is found in the revision methodology, the entire exercise could be canceled, making it clear that publishing the roll offers no legal immunity.

The Numbers and the Deletions

The SIR, the first intensive revision since 2003, saw a massive turnover of names. At the onset, 65 lakh names were marked for deletion (as deceased, shifted, or untraceable) in the draft roll published on August 1.

The final count reveals the intense scrutiny that followed:

Additions: 21.53 lakh names of "eligible voters" were added or re-included after filing Form-6 during the "claims and objections" phase.

Further Deletions: 3.66 lakh names that were on the draft roll were subsequently removed, classified by the EC only as "ineligible" (ayogya) electors, the specific grounds for which were not immediately specified by the commission.

The net result is a removal of nearly 50 lakh names, a figure that has stoked political fire.

Political Backlash

Hours after the final roll was released, the opposition Congress party voiced "serious concerns" over the high rate of net deletions. State Congress president Rajesh Kumar stated that the "issues concerning SIR are far from over," adding that the party is ready for a "fight to the finish" and questioning the EC’s credibility. The opposition maintains that the mass deletion attempts targeted genuine, eligible voters.

Meanwhile, the Patna district administration confirmed that the number of local electors has risen by 1,63,600 since the draft roll, now standing at 48,15,294, highlighting localized additions amidst the statewide controversy.