PATNA: The Election Commission on Tuesday released the final electoral rolls for Bihar following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ahead of the state assembly elections.
The revised list has been made available on the official website of the poll body. Voters can check and verify their details online at https://voters.eci.gov.in, through a mobile app, or via SMS.
According to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Bihar, there are 7,41,92,357 registered voters in the state. Of these, 3,92,07,604 are male, 3,49,82,828 are female, and 1,725 are third-gender voters.
Records show that 4,03,985 electors are aged 85 or above, while 14,01,150 are young voters between 18 and 19 years of age. Voters with physical disabilities account for 7,20,709.
A total of 21.53 lakh new names were added to the final voter list. According to the Election Commission, more than 36,000 voters lodged claims to add their names, while 2.17 lakh voters requested removal. Around three lakh voters were issued notices for not submitting the required documents.
In the final electoral roll, the names of deceased, transferred, and duplicate voters identified during the SIR have been excluded.
The Election Commission removed nearly 68.5 lakh names, bringing the total number of electors to 7.42 crore, down 6 percent from 7.89 crore on June 24.
Physical copies of the electoral rolls will be made available to all District Election-cum-District Magistrates. The final roll will also be provided to all recognised national and state-level political parties. It includes more than 7.24 crore voters who submitted their enumeration forms, and the state assembly elections will be held using this roll.
The draft electoral rolls were published on August 1 and were open for claims and objections by individuals and political parties until September 1. According to the draft, there were 7.24 crore electors. During this period, 22,34,136 voters were found deceased, 6,85,000 had duplicate entries, and 36,44,939 had permanently moved out of the state. A total of 65,64,075 names were removed in the draft electoral rolls.
The SIR faced criticism from opposition parties, who argued that it could disenfranchise millions of legitimate voters. The Election Commission responded that the process ensures no eligible citizen is excluded while preventing ineligible individuals from appearing on the voter list.
The SIR was conducted after a gap of 22 years. Around 65 lakh voters were removed from the draft electoral rolls due to death, permanent relocation, or multiple registrations. The Supreme Court is currently hearing petitions challenging the SIR exercise.
Meanwhile, Janata Dal (United) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar criticised opposition parties for questioning the SIR. In a video message, he said, “The opposition parties’ apprehension that names of Dalits and the poor would be deleted from the voter list has now proved wrong.”