Patna: Bihar’s electoral rolls are undergoing a dramatic shake-up, with over 3.5 million names set to be deleted under the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, according to official figures released on Monday.
The data reveals that out of Bihar’s total 78.96 million voters, 4.52% — amounting to 3.55 million people — have either died, shifted residence permanently, or are registered in multiple places. So far, 1.59% of voters have been recorded as deceased, 2.2% have permanently migrated, and 0.73% appear on the rolls at more than one location.
As of Monday, counting forms for 83.66% of voters — roughly 66 million people — have been submitted. When combined with those whose status has already been determined, around 88.18% of Bihar’s electorate has been accounted for, leaving 11.82% of voters still to complete the process.
Officials said many of those yet to submit forms have requested additional time to provide necessary documents. The deadline for submission is July 25, after which draft rolls will be published and the final electoral roll for the 2025 elections will be determined.
The massive revision is being carried out partly through ECINet, the Election Commission’s integrated digital platform, which has consolidated 40 earlier applications and now handles online form submissions, name searches and document verification. More than 57.4 million forms have already been uploaded onto ECINet.
In the next phase of the exercise, about 100,000 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will return to door-to-door visits to trace remaining voters. Meanwhile, 150,000 booth-level agents appointed by recognised political parties are actively working in the field, each able to collect and verify up to 50 counting papers daily.
To ensure no urban voters are left out, special camps are also being organised in 5,683 wards across 261 municipal bodies.
The scale of the revision has become a political flashpoint, with Opposition leaders raising concerns that large-scale deletions could influence electoral outcomes.
