The draft electoral roll of Bihar, released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday amid the highly contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR), shows 65 lakh electors deleted from the rolls with state capital Patna leading the tally at 3.95 lakh electors omitted, followed by Madhubani district at 3.52 lakh electors less.
East Champaran, Gopalganj and Samastipur are other districts among the top five in terms of voter deletion. The closely-watched four districts of Seemanchal, bordering Nepal and Bangladesh – Purnia, Katihar, Araria and Kishanganj accounted for 11.60% of total deletion from the state with 7,61,914 voters removed from the roll. It is, however, only Purnia that is among the top ten districts faced with deletions with 2.7 lakh electors wiped off the draft roll.
Focus: 45 lakh off rolls
The focus of the SIR, in fact, now shifts firmly on those omitted from the draft roll, particularly the 45 lakh electors who are deleted due to varied reasons such as non-submission of enumeration forms, not found at given address or having a changed address. Twenty-two lakh electors have been declared dead. The window to get back on to the electoral roll, for the 45 lakh, opens up from August 1 until September 1 during which they can file ‘claims’ for inclusion of an elector in the roll and ‘objections’ seeking exclusion of an elector from the roll. In comes the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) who will address all ‘claims’ and ‘objections’ by September 25. The latter can be filed by electors as well as political parties.
ERO ‘satisfaction’
In addition, the 7.2 crore electors, who are on the list, will also come under ERO scrutiny as several of them have not submitted the ECI stipulated documents of proof. The ERO will “scrutinise the eligibility of proposed electors” and come to “satisfaction” based on “documents submitted” and “field reports” alongside assessing ‘claims’ and ‘objections’. Those who feel aggrieved by the ERO decision, via a well reasoned speaking order, on their ‘claims/objections’, can go in appeal to the District Collector within 15 days of the ERO decision. A second appeal option is open until 30 days after the collector’s decision.Cases where an elector’s citizenship is under doubt will be referred to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955, as per the ECI’s SIR order of June 24. By September 27, the Bihar electoral machinery is to check the “health parameters” of the finalised electoral roll and obtain the ECI’s permission for its final publication. The final electoral roll will be published on September 30.
The outreach
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar has activated its full machinery to bring in more eligible electors into the fold. Special camps will be set up across all Block-cum-Circle offices and urban body offices (like Nagar Panchayat, Nagar Parishad, and Nagar Nigam circle offices) for submission of documents. The CEO has appealed to all political parties seeking cooperation in ensuring accuracy of the electoral roll.
