On the eve of the publishing of Bihar’s freshly revised draft electoral roll, Opposition leaders and election experts raised concerns about the possibility of a large-scale deletion of voters.

Psephologist Yogendra Yadav and the CPIML-Liberation have warned that the special intensive revision (SIR), launched on June 25, had resulted in a shrinking electorate and could lead to further deletions.

Preparation for the SIR has begun across India, and the EC is expected to extend the drive after completing Bihar. The Trinamool Congress government in Bengal has vehemently opposed it on the suspicion that it would selectively disenfranchise the working-class voters ahead of the 2026 elections.

Yadav, a petitioner in the Supreme Court against the SIR, told The Wire: “I have the figures from the districts of Darbhanga and Kaimur. It shows that 10 to 12 per cent have been marked for deletion, which is to say that where BLO said ‘not recommended’. This does not mean permanent deletion. They have the right to notice, hearing, etc. Ten per cent would mean 72 lakh people, over and above the 94 lakh that we have spoken about.”

On July 27, the EC confirmed that the state’s electoral roll has shrunk from 7.89 crore to 7.24 crore — smaller than the electorate of the 2020 polls — in the first phase of the drive itself. The 65 lakh names deleted include the dead, those enrolled in multiple places in Bihar, and those who are permanently shifted or not found.

In his response to the Election Commission’s counter-affidavit, Yadav used population projections of the Union health ministry in 2019 to claim that the actual number of voters in Bihar should be around 8.18 crore. India’s population census has not been conducted since 2011, hence the reliance on projections.

He said even if one’s name is on the draft roll, “you can still be thrown out a) because the BLO said you are suspect, b) because the documents were not found or are not there, and c) because the electoral registration officer can make a local inquiry and say that you do not belong there. So we are looking at a substantial chunk over and above the 94 lakh we are talking about”.

Yadav added: “We are looking at the birth rate of 2002-2007. A 28 per cent increase has taken place in the population. After population growth, the electorate has shrunk. How astonishing!”

CPIML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya cited a purported SIR status report from Darbhanga district. Of around 30 lakh voters in the district, 2 lakh have been deleted in the enumeration phase.

“Of the remaining 2.8 million (28 lakh), some 2.5 million (25 lakh) names have been recommended by BLOs, and 3 lakh voters are not recommended by BLOs. Are these voters on the waiting list for eventual deletion? Will they be treated henceforth as D-voters with voting rights suspended? Will some end in detention centres as has been happening in Assam?” he asked.