Petitioners allege dead people were shown submitting voter forms in Bihar’s electoral roll revision. Supreme Court hears claims of mass forgery and looming disenfranchisement.
New Delhi: On July 26, a major controversy has erupted over the recent revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls, with allegations that the process has been conducted in a highly irregular and fraudulent manner.
Petitioners, including the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), have told the Supreme Court that the special intensive revision (SIR) carried out by the Election Commission (EC) poses a grave threat to the democratic rights of millions of voters in Bihar.
According to the petitioners, many Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have been found submitting enumeration forms on behalf of voters without meeting them or obtaining their consent. In their official response submitted through advocate Neha Rathi, ADR stated that,
“Enumeration forms are being mass uploaded by BLOs without the knowledge or consent of voters, in order to achieve the unrealistic target set by EC. Many voters have reported that their forms have been submitted online, despite never having met with any BLO or signed any documents. Forms of even dead individuals have been reported to have been submitted.”
They emphasized that this method of voter verification is deeply flawed and has the potential to undermine the credibility of the electoral process.
The petition added,
“This points to the flawed manner in which the current SIR is being conducted, where the integrity of electoral rolls is compromised, potentially affecting millions of voters and undermining the democratic process. The situation raises serious questions about transparency, accountability and the potential for electoral fraud, as voters express confusion and concern over how their details were uploaded without their involvement.”
RJD MP Manoj Jha, in his response filed by advocate Fauzia Shakil, supported these claims with further allegations. He highlighted that multiple media reports from Bihar have revealed how electors were left in the dark about the verification process.
According to Jha,
“Media reports pointed out countless instances where electors have complained that BLOs did not visit their house or neighbourhood, forms were not given in duplicate, no acknowledgement was given on submission of forms and photos were not taken.”
He further claimed that
“BLOs were found forging voters’ signatures on forms and uploading them.”
Jha also took strong objection to the EC’s approach of requiring voters to prove their citizenship to be enrolled in the electoral rolls.
He said,
“The present exercise is unprecedented inasmuch as for the first time a person is being asked to furnish a documentary proof of his citizenship to the satisfaction of Election Commission to be enrolled as a voter and exercise his constitutional right to vote.”
He reminded the court that earlier, only a declaration was needed to confirm Indian citizenship. Quoting further, he said,
“As is evident from a bare perusal of Form 6 – the application form for a new voter – and documents for proof of date of birth and documents for proof of residence were required to be furnished along with only a declaration that a person is a citizen of India.”
The petitioners also drew attention to the opinion of former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, who questioned the EC’s current strategy for the special revision. They argued that his opinion, coming from a former top official of the poll panel, cannot be ignored.
Petitioners expressed concern about the timing of the exercise, pointing out that it was being done just months ahead of the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, which could lead to confusion and chaos among voters.
They also criticized the EC for ignoring the Supreme Court’s earlier suggestion to accept Aadhaar, Voter ID, and ration cards as valid documents for enrolment.
The petitioners warned that lakhs of voters in Bihar are at risk of being removed from the voter list, especially since many of the submitted forms lack the required documents.
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They stressed that being listed in the draft roll is meaningless if the necessary documents have not been submitted. Quoting from the response, they said,
“In light of the media reports from Bihar, showing how BLOs are signing blank enumeration forms in absence of voters, the numbers as suggested by EC are circumspect and even otherwise are of no consequence since most of these forms have been collected without documents and a large number of the electorate in Bihar continues to be at the risk of disenfranchisement. It is submitted that inclusion of name in draft roll has no meaning till documents as required are submitted, and thus, the risk of disenfranchisement looms large over a huge population who has already voted in multiple elections since 2002.”
The Supreme Court has taken these concerns seriously and is reviewing the validity and fairness of the special revision process.
The case raises important questions about voter rights, transparency in election procedures, and the fundamental democratic right to vote.
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