Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Jul 21: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday shared alarming details with 12 major political parties regarding voter data discrepancies in Bihar. Over 29.62 lakh electors have yet to return their Enumeration Forms (EFs) under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and a further 43.93 lakh electors could not be found at their registered addresses.

In an official statement, the ECI confirmed that Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), District Electoral Officers (DEOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have held meetings with political party representatives and shared the data.

All 12 parties have been asked to engage their District Presidents and nearly 1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to reach out to the unresponsive voters and those missing from the rolls.

So far, the SIR exercise has successfully covered 7.59 crore voters, or 96.23% of Bihar’s 7.89 crore electorate. The remaining 3.77%, roughly 29.62 lakh voters, are yet to submit their EFs.

Additionally, of the 43.93 lakh electors found missing from their listed addresses:

• 16.55 lakh are reported to be deceased
• 19.75 lakh have permanently relocated
• 7.5 lakh are registered in multiple places
• 11,484 could not be traced at all

The ECI highlighted a key achievement—Bihar is now the first state in the country to have all polling stations with fewer than 1,200 electors, after adding 12,817 new polling stations to ease congestion.

As per the commission’s schedule, draft electoral rolls will be released on August 1, 2025, including only those voters whose forms are submitted by July 25. Public objections regarding inclusions, deletions, or corrections will be invited after the draft is published, with a full month allocated for such feedback.

The large number of unverified and misplaced voters poses a significant challenge as Bihar gears up for future polls, prompting the ECI to intensify its efforts to ensure a clean, accurate voter roll.