EC defends electoral roll revision in Bihar

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday issued a comprehensive note detailing the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in poll-bound Bihar, saying it is being carried out in a planned, structured and phased manner.

- Snehashish Roy

The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on September 30.

‘According to ECI, the special drive will cover nearly 79 million electors across the state in five phases. The process involves 77,895 booth-level officers (BLOs), with an additional 20,603 being recruited, and 154,000 booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by recognised political parties.

The first phase, which ran from June 25 to July 3, involved the distribution of Enumeration Forms (EFs) to electors listed on the electoral roll as of June 24. “BLOs are delivering the EFs door-to-door to all the 7.90 crore electors whose names are on the Electoral Roll as on 24.06.2025. In addition, the forms are available for download on the ECI portal and the BLAs appointed by political parties may also submit up to 50 certified forms per day,” the ECI said.

The second phase focuses on assisting electors in filling out and submitting their forms by July 25. “Nearly 4 lakh volunteers, which include government officials, NCC cadets, NSS, etc., have been deployed to make the process seamless for the voters and help the old, sick, persons with disabilities (PwD), poor and other vulnerable groups,” ECI said.