Bihar assembly polls: EC's SIR flags discrepancies - '18 lakh dead electors, 7 lakh duplicates'

The Election Commission of India on Tuesday shared that during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, it has discovered that 18 lakh of the registered voters have passed away, and 26 lakh electors have shifted to another constituency. ECI also noted that more than 7 lakh voters are enrolled at two places. In a release, ECI shared that out of the total 7,89,69,844 voters, 97.30 per cent, or 76,834,228, have filled the enumeration forms so far.

The Election Commission said that CEO/DEOs/EROs/BLOs are extensively working with the representatives of all political parties and have shared a list of 21.36 lakh electors whose forms have not been received so far. ERO/BLOs have also shared a list of nearly 52.30 lakh electors who are reportedly deceased, have permanently shifted, or have enrolled at multiple places. Additionally, detailed lists of voters not found are being shared by EROs/BLOs with political parties, ECI added.

According to the poll body, a full one-month period, from August 1 to September 1, will be available to any member of the public to file objections for any additions, deletions, and rectifications in draft electoral rolls. Meanwhile, the Opposition has repeatedly criticised SIR, accusing the NDA alliance of taking voting rights away from people. Earlier in the day, MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra expressed strong reservations against the SIR, accusing the government of "murdering democracy."