The Election Commission published a draft voter lists for the state on Friday after completing the special intensive revision (SIR) process that lasted a month in view of the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar. No compiled list has been provided, but voters can see their name on the Election Commission website.
Along with this, the process of “claims and objections” will also begin, which will continue till September 1 and during this period, the voters complaining of wrongly removing the names can contact the concerned authorities and request the solution.
The Election Commission claims that there were 7.93 crore registered voters in the state before the SIR started at the end of last month.
The opposition has protested by criticizing the process and has also feared that the names of voters have been removed on a large scale.
In the first phase of SIR, voters were provided with either booth-level officers (BLOs) or political parties by booth-level agents (BLA) “calculations forms”. Voters were to return the form after attaching the acceptable documents as proof of their signature and an identity.
People also had the option to download these calculation forms and submit online. This process was completed by 25 July.
According to the Election Commission, “7.23 crore voters” submitted their calculation forms, while 35 lakh voters had permanently migrated or could not be detected. “
According to the Commission, 22 lakh people have died, while seven lakh people were found registered as voters in more than one voter list.
The Election Commission also claimed that 1.2 lakh voters did not submit the calculation forms.
Critics of this process believe that it has been to “help” the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming elections.
Assembly elections are proposed in Bihar later this year.
