The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday said that none of the political parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led opposition, have filed any objection or complaints over the draft electoral rolls published for Bihar on August 1.
It further informed that more than 10,000 individual electors have submitted their objections directly to the poll panel, while more than 50,000 new electors, who crossed the stipulated voting age limit of 18 years, have submitted their forms, seeking new voter IDs for exercising their right to vote.
The ECI released these vital stats on August 11 in its routine bulletin on special intensive revision (SIR) drive – the issue has become a political flashpoint in poll-bound Bihar and has stalled the Parliamentary proceedings since the beginning of the Monsoon Session on July 21.
The data is significant as it reflects ‘zero resistance’ from the opposition to the ECI’s SIR drive after the publication of draft rolls, in sharp contrast to earlier when several opposition parties accused the poll watchdog of large-scale manipulation to benefit the ruling party.
While releasing the details, the ECI also said that the claims and objections will be disposed of by the concerned ERO/AERO after the expiry of 7 days from the verification of eligibility documents.
“As per SIR orders, no name can be deleted from the draft list published on 1st August 2025 without passing a speaking order by the ERO/AERO after conducting an enquiry and after giving a fair and reasonable opportunity,” it added.
Notably, the EC published its draft electoral rolls on August 1 and has kept a window of one month for people and parties to bring their complaints and grievances regarding inclusion or exclusion from the draft electoral list.
According to the ECI, RJD has 47,506 booth-level agents (BLAs), the Congress has 17,549, and the Left has over 2,000, all adding up to over 67,000.
The ECI conducted the enumeration phase of the SIR from June 24 to July 25. More than 7.24 crore electors – out of a total of 7.89 crore – submitted their enumeration forms during the exercise.
(With inputs from IANS)