Patna: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has said that no candidate from the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections 2025 or from bypolls in multiple states sought verification of the EVM burnt memory or microcontroller, a process explicitly allowed under the Supreme Court-approved protocol.
In a statement released on Thursday, the poll body noted:
“No application for verification of burnt memory or microcontroller has been received from any losing candidate in any of the 243 assembly constituencies of Bihar, or in the eight constituencies where bypolls were held.”
Revised SOP, but no takers
Following a Supreme Court directive, the ECI had issued a revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on June 17, 2025, enabling candidates who secured the second or third-highest votes to request a post-result inspection of EVMs within seven days.
Despite the expanded window for scrutiny, the Commission confirmed that not a single candidate or political party filed such a request.
Random VVPAT checks completed
The ECI said it also conducted mandatory VVPAT verification across Bihar, with five random polling stations per constituency—a total of 1,215 VVPAT samples.
According to the poll panel, no mismatch was found between VVPAT paper slips and EVM count anywhere in the state.
No objections from voters or parties
The Commission revealed further that after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, neither voters nor any of the 12 recognised political parties filed appeals against alleged wrongful inclusion or deletion.
It added that none of the 2,616 candidates, nor any recognised party, sought a recount or demanded a fresh election.
Data released to strengthen transparency
For the first time, index cards for all constituencies were made public within 72 hours of result declaration.
Additionally, the statistical report for the Bihar 2025 polls was uploaded in the public domain within five days, a move the ECI said would support researchers, academics and the public by offering rapid access to poll data.
Related concerns before the Supreme Court
The clarification comes as the Supreme Court recently examined concerns regarding missing or allegedly deleted names from the Bihar electoral rolls, including those marked dead, displaced or removed. The Court noted that no objections were raised even on these categories.
