The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday flagged a number changes in the voter list after conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll in Bihar. The ECI said that it has discovered that 18 lakh of the registered voters have passed away, 26 lakh electors have shifted to another constituencies and seven lakh are duplicate voters.
In a release, ECI shared that out of the total 7,89,69,844 voters, 97.30 per cent, or 76,834,228, have filled the enumeration forms so far.
The Election Commission said that CEO, DEO, ERO, and BLO officials are actively working with representatives of all political parties and have shared a list of 21.36 lakh electors whose forms are yet to be received. They have also shared a list of nearly 52.30 lakh electors who are reportedly deceased, have permanently shifted, or have enrolled at multiple places.
Additionally, detailed lists of voters not found are being shared by EROs/BLOs with political parties, ECI added. The poll body has mentioned that a full month would be given to anyone who wishes to file objections for any additions, deletions, and rectifications in draft electoral rolls.
Meanwhile, the Opposition has repeatedly criticised SIR, accusing the NDA alliance of taking voting rights away from people. Also Read | Bihar electoral roll revision: EC ahead of July 25 deadline, over 80% enumeration forms collected so far
Expressing strong reservations, MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged that the election results in Maharashtra were “rigged” by inflating the voters and now the attempts are underway to remove voters’ names in Bihar. She said the SIR exercise was a “conspiracy to snatch the right to vote.”
“First, in Maharashtra, elections were rigged by inflating voter lists. Now, in Bihar, attempts are being made to do the same by removing voters’ names. The ‘vote ban’ being imposed under the guise of SIR is a conspiracy to snatch the right to vote granted by the Constitution. We stand firmly against every attempt to trample the Constitution,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
Bihar Assembly elections are expected to be held later this year in October or November; however, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has not announced an official date.