1,500 applications raised ‘foreigner’ tag in previous Bihar electoral roll revision

SSR, AN ANNUAL UPDATE OF VOTER ROLLS, ALLOWS PEOPLE TO FILE OBJECTIONS AGAINST LISTED ELECTORS

- Vrinda Tulsian

An ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, which is set to end on Friday, has kicked up a controversy.

The last time the Election Commission of India (ECI) revised the rolls in the eastern state was when it held a Special Summary Revision (SSR) between October 29, 2024, and January 6, 2025.

During that process, ECI received around 1,500 applications from ordinary voters that tagged a particular individual as a “foreigner” and were objecting to the name being included in the rolls, officials told HT.

“Few such objections were confirmed as genuine,” the officials added.

To be sure, an SSR is different from an SIR. The SSR is an annual, routine update of the electoral roll primarily driven by public claims and objections, with limited verification.

In contrast, the SIR is an exceptional, comprehensive verification exercise. It requires compulsory house-to-house physical surveys by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for every existing elector, using a pre-filled enumeration form for confirmation.