ECI has launched an awareness campaign in Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision, asking citizens to help delete fake, duplicate, and ineligible names. Despite limited political party involvement, public participation in updating voter rolls remains strong.
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a fresh awareness campaign in Bihar during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The drive is aimed at making the voter lists accurate, transparent, and free from errors before the upcoming elections.
As part of this campaign, the Commission has asked every voter to consider five important points:
- Whether the electoral rolls should be thoroughly verified
- Whether names of deceased persons should be deleted
- Whether voters whose names appear at multiple places should be retained at only one location
- Whether the names of those who have permanently shifted and registered elsewhere should be removed from their original rolls
- Whether foreigners and ineligible persons should be deleted from the voter list
The Commission has appealed that if the answer to all these points is “yes,” then citizens must step forward and contribute to the difficult but necessary task of cleaning and updating the voter rolls.
Despite the Supreme Court issuing a notice on this issue, political parties in Bihar have shown very little involvement.
Out of 12 recognised parties that together have more than 1.61 lakh booth-level agents, only 10 objections have been filed so far. This limited participation has raised concerns over the seriousness of political parties in ensuring clean voter lists.
On the other hand, public participation has been much stronger. With just five days left in the current revision exercise, a large number of citizens have submitted applications, both for deleting ineligible names and for enrolling new eligible voters.
The Election Commission has underlined that active cooperation from both political parties and the general public is essential to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections in Bihar.
Background
The issue of errors in electoral rolls has often reached the courts in India. Concerns have been raised in the past about fake voters, duplicate entries, and names of people who are no longer alive still appearing on the lists.
In some states, complaints have also been made about voters being enrolled at more than one location, which goes against election rules.
Recently, the Supreme Court took notice of these problems and issued directions to ensure that the electoral rolls are cleaned up.
The Court has stressed that the integrity of voter lists is directly linked to free and fair elections, which form the foundation of Indian democracy. It has also reminded both political parties and the Election Commission that maintaining accurate rolls is not just a technical exercise, but a constitutional necessity.
Current Situation in Bihar
Despite the Supreme Court’s notice, political parties in Bihar have shown very little involvement. Out of 12 recognised parties that together have more than 1.61 lakh booth-level agents, only 10 objections have been filed so far.
This limited participation has raised concerns over the seriousness of political parties in ensuring clean voter lists.
On the other hand, public participation has been much stronger. With just five days left in the current revision exercise, a large number of citizens have submitted applications, both for deleting ineligible names and for enrolling new eligible voters.
The Election Commission has underlined that active cooperation from both political parties and the general public is essential to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections in Bihar.
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