The citizenship-document-based special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar concluded on Tuesday after a little over three months.
Names of 68.66 lakh voters have been deleted from the electorate of 7.89 crore on June 25 — the day the SIR was declared. The names of 21.53 lakh electors have been added, and the electorate now is 7.42 crore.
The exercise, which has been challenged in the Supreme Court as an overreach that is opaque and exclusionary, is expected to be replicated across India.
Although district-wise data is yet to be publicly released, the Patna district administration revealed an increase of 1.63 lakh electors. The other districts are reportedly in deficit.
One of the reasons for launching the SIR, the Election Commission had said on June 24, was "exclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants" in the current electoral roll.
Under the SIR, the poll panel had instructed electoral registration officers to “refer cases of suspected foreign nationals to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act".
Tuesday's data, however, made no mention of any such cases. The poll panel merely disclosed that 3.66 lakh “ineligible electors” were removed from the draft list.
Of the 65 lakh excluded from the draft roll, published on August 1, some 22 lakh were marked dead, 36 lakh as permanently shifted or not found, and 7 lakh as enrolled elsewhere.
Some of these electors marked dead appeared in the Supreme Court, where petitioners cited them as examples of a hurried process, excluding eligible electors, especially those who are marginalised and unable to navigate the maze of documentation.
Depending on one’s age, citizenship documents of not only the elector but also one or both of their parents were required.
The court eventually compelled the poll panel to accept Aadhaar as proof of identity in addition to the documents which it had prescribed. The final arguments of the case are scheduled for October 7, around the time when dates for the Assembly elections in Bihar are expected to be declared.
The Election Commission said in a statement on Tuesday: "If any person is not satisfied with the decision of ERO regarding an entry in the final electoral roll, they may, under Section 24 of the RP Act, 1950, file a first appeal before the district magistrate and a second appeal before the CEO (chief electoral officer)."
On Monday, the Kerala Assembly passed a unanimous resolution against the SIR being held, and described it as an attempt to introduce the National Register of Citizens through the back door.