Patna: Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of deliberate manipulation after claiming that both his and his wife’s names have been removed from the Bihar electoral roll. Yadav made the allegation during a press conference in Patna on Saturday, where he also showed a video of the Booth Level Officer (BLO) reportedly verifying their details.
“Our names were verified by the BLO, yet they do not appear on the voter list,” Yadav said, raising doubts about the transparency of the ongoing voter revision process. When asked by a reporter whether his wife had a voter ID card, he responded, “If mine isn’t made, how can hers be?”
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader went on to claim large-scale deletions across the state. “From 20,000 to 30,000 names have been removed in almost every constituency. Around 65 lakh voters — approximately 8.5% — have been dropped from the rolls,” he said.
Yadav accused the Election Commission of acting under political influence, stating, “The Commission will do whatever two Gujaratis say,” a veiled reference widely interpreted to mean Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Criticising the ECI’s transparency, he alleged that the new list lacks key information. “In previous revisions, the ECI would advertise how many voters were deceased, how many had shifted, and how many were duplicates. But this time, no addresses have been provided.”
He further criticised the Commission for not consulting political parties or providing prior information about the deletions. “Even the Supreme Court’s suggestions have been ignored. We had warned that names of poor voters would be erased — and that’s exactly what has happened,” Yadav said.
Voter Deletion Data Released by ECI
The ECI on August 1 released data from the first phase of its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign in Bihar. According to the draft list, the total number of voters now stands at 7.24 crore — down from 7.89 crore — with 65.64 lakh names removed.
The Commission attributed the deletions to:
- 22.34 lakh deceased voters
- 36.28 lakh who had shifted permanently
- 7.01 lakh duplicate entries
Among the most affected regions are the Muslim-majority Seemanchal and Darbhanga districts, where 9.65 lakh names have been deleted. Meanwhile, 21.29 lakh names were removed from nine districts considered strongholds of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and 16.57 lakh from 11 districts under the Patna and Magadh Commissionerates — areas where the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) performed strongly in the 2020 Assembly elections.
In Patna district alone, 3.95 lakh names were deleted — the highest across the state. Among Muslim-majority constituencies, Kishanganj saw the largest number of deletions at 49,340, while Thakurganj saw the least at 29,277.
Political Implications
The deletions are expected to have significant political implications, especially in the Patna Commissionerate region where the Grand Alliance had won 27 out of 43 assembly seats in 2020. According to the ECI data, 10.42 lakh voters’ names have been removed from this area. In the neighbouring Magadh division — another Grand Alliance stronghold — 6.15 lakh names were deleted.
While the ECI maintains that the revision was conducted to ensure accuracy, opposition leaders have raised serious concerns over the scale and potential impact of the deletions.
Yadav concluded the press conference by reiterating that the Commission has failed in its constitutional duty to conduct a free and fair voter list revision: “This is no longer an independent body. It is operating at the behest of political power.”
