The Chief Election
Commissioner Election Commission of India
Nirvachan Sadan
New Delhi 110 001
Dear Sir,
We have in hand, a copy of letter No. 23/2025-ERS (Vol.II) dated June 24, 2025 addressed to the Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar pertaining to the “Special Intensive Revision” of electoral rolls.
While a review of electoral rolls is a normal and routine process, the proposals appear to be putting a major part of the responsibility for inclusion/deletion from the electoral rolls on the basis of which the elections will take place, is being imposed on the voters themselves. Additionally, the timing of the exercise is also a cause for concern, being so close to the actual elections, as the elections to the Bihar Assembly were conducted in October/November at the time of the last elections. We find the methodology and procedure adopted objectionable for the following specific reasons:
- The ECI should have taken at least the recognised political parties into confidence and elicited their views before undertaking such an exercise, rather than convening the meeting to formally inform them of the launch of the program.
- Holding such an extensive exercise just a few months before the state goes to polls will vitiate the atmosphere and is fraught with dangers. The time frame for the completion of the entire exercise is just a month.
- Deletion of names of ineligible voters is the responsibility of the concerned BLOs. The onus of validating one’s own legitimate claim as voter at a given place cannot be imposed upon any ordinary voter, as is being sought to be done of already enrolled voters.
- If the BLO fails to deliver the Enumeration Form to an existing elector and the said voter is unaware of the process to get the form, his name will be deleted from the electoral roll. Let alone internet connectivity and e-literacy, when even ordinary literacy is lacking, how does the EC expect such voters to download/upload forms.
- Now the insistence on providing proof of residence for all existing voters will lead to unnecessary harassment of voters, who may not have the requisite documents.
- The insistence on proof of parents will only complicate matters further.
- This will result in deletion of the names of many genuine voters who may have migrated temporarily and are not currently available in the state and who would not be in a position to return before the completion of this exercise, even while their names are not listed in any electoral roll elsewhere.
- This entire exercise is similar to the proposed NRC. There are fears that it may be used to target a certain section of voters leading to their disenfranchisement.
It has also been brought to our notice that a majority of the political parties who had attended the meeting convened by the Bihar CEO on June 25, 2025 had opposed this exercise and called for its abandonment.
This proposed exercise in Bihar is causing concern because the ECI has declared that the same method will be adopted for other impending elections. We would therefore urge the Election Commission of India to abandon this exercise.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
Nilotpal Basu
(Polit Bureau Member)