NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday said it has published the draft electoral rolls of Bihar after completing the first phase of collecting enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state.
It said that, as part of the SIR exercise, poll officials allegedly reached out to and covered all 243 assembly constituencies and 90,817 polling stations. The Commission added that copies of the draft electoral rolls have been shared with political parties.
It is to be noted that opposition parties have been protesting against the SIR in Bihar and are demanding a discussion in Parliament over the issue. The SIR exercise comes ahead of the state assembly elections, scheduled to be held later this year in October–November.
The Commission, in a statement, said, “Draft Electoral Rolls for Bihar, covering each of the 243 assembly constituencies and 90,817 polling stations, are being shared with all political parties by the 38 District Collectors at 11 AM today, i.e. 1 August 2025, and the same was published for public viewing at 3 PM on Friday.”
Earlier in the day, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said in a message to voters, “The draft electoral rolls of Bihar are being published on Friday, August 1, at https://voters.eci.gov.in/download.”) He went on to add: “Physical as well as digital copies will also be given to all recognised political parties in Bihar in all 38 districts by all the 38 District Election Officers (DEOs) of Bihar.”
According to the Commission, the publication of the draft electoral rolls marked the beginning of the “claims and objections” phase, which will run until 1 September. During this period, voters who believe their names were wrongly deleted can approach the relevant authorities to have the issue corrected, it added.
The ECI said there were 7.93 crore registered voters in Bihar before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process allegedly began late last month.
In the initial stage of the SIR, voters were issued “enumeration forms” by booth-level officers (BLOs) and booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties. These forms were to be signed and returned along with valid identity documents. Voters also had the option of downloading and submitting the forms online.