Patna: The Election Commission on Tuesday published its final electoral roll in Bihar, containing details of 7.42 crore voters, a drop of more than 47 lakh since June, when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was launched.
The number of voters in the final roll is, however, higher than in the draft roll (7.24 crore), which came out in August after names of 65 lakh electors were knocked off as they were found to be “absent”, “shifted” or “dead”.
According to a statement issued by the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar, names of 21.53 lakh “eligible voters”, which got left out in the draft roll, were added since publication of the draft roll on August 1.
However, names of 3.66 lakh voters, which were in the draft roll, were also deleted in the course of the “claims and objections” phase.
The EC did not specify the grounds on which names in the draft roll were found to be of “ayogya” (ineligible) electors by the time of the publication of the final roll.
Other details like a district-wise break up, besides number of males, females and third-gender voters, and proportion of different age groups, were still awaited.
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Earlier, the CEO had come out with a social media post, in which the EC was also tagged, to announce “in the light of Special Intensive Revision, the final electoral roll has been published on 30.09.2025. People can look up their names by clicking on the link voters.eci.gov.in”.
Meanwhile, the Patna district administration issued a statement declaring that the total number of voters, across 14 assembly segments under its jurisdiction, was about 48.15 lakh, which was “an increase of 1.63 lakh” when compared with the draft electoral rolls published on August 1.
The total number of female voters in the district was 22.75 lakh, and the Digha constituency had the highest number of 4.56 lakh electors.
Reacting to the announcement, Neeraj Kumar, spokesman of the JD(U) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said, “The vote theft propaganda of the corrupt opposition, led by Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav, now stands exposed.”
He pointed out “lakhs of new names have been added in the final electoral roll. And, it is well known that a majority of voters in the state belong to deprived castes or religious minorities”.
State Congress president Rajesh Kumar, however, voiced “serious concerns” about the number of deletions in the draft roll “remaining far in excess of the number of additions” in the final roll.
“The issues concerning SIR are far from over. We are ready for a fight to the finish. The credibility and impartiality of the EC remains doubtful,” the Congress leader alleged.
Assembly elections are likely to be announced in the state soon, and the mammoth SIR exercise, which the EC intends to undertake across the country in due course, has stirred a controversy.
Opposition parties, some of which have moved the Supreme Court, have been alleging that SIR was aimed at the wrongful deletion of names of voters who were less likely to vote for the ruling BJP-led NDA.
However, BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, have asserted that SIR was essential to flush out “infiltrators” whom the INDIA bloc allegedly wanted to protect and give voting rights.
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