From the rules governing the submission of enumeration forms to the SIR's rationale and the claims and objections deadline, the EC has steered the exercise in multiple directions.
Published Sep 08, 2025 | 5:34 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 08, 2025 | 5:34 PM
[LTR] Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi.
Synopsis: The poll body’s actions since the exercise was announced in June point to a series of changes to its original timeline, and intentions, as well as to its contradictions. This article, originally published in The Wire, looks at the various changes in direction that the exercise has taken since it was announced on June 24.
As the Election Commission (EC)’s contentious special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar enters its final phase, the poll body’s actions since the exercise was announced in June point to a series of changes to its original timeline and intentions, as well as to its contradictions.
From the requirement that enumeration forms be submitted with one of the 11 documents to prove electors’ eligibility, which was changed to submitting forms first and documents later; to accepting Aadhaar as a document despite the EC’s resistance; to changing the final date for filing claims and objections; and to a shift in the very rationale behind the SIR: The Wire looks at the various changes in direction that the exercise has taken since it was announced on June 24.
On June 24, the EC issued instructions for holding an SIR in Bihar, stating that the last such exercise was conducted in the state in 2003.
In its first phase, which was to begin the next day, booth-level officers (BLOs) would collect enumeration forms from electors along with the required documents until July 26, the EC said. Alternatively, its instructions said that electors could upload their forms and documents online.
As media reports showed that the scramble for documents raised fears of mass exclusions, the EC issued advertisements in Patna newspapers on July 6 saying that electors could submit their forms even if they did not yet have the supporting documents.
On July 8, when Bihar’s former deputy chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav said in a press conference that the EC is “confused” about the exercise, the poll body “fact-checked” him in a post on X. It said that “there is no change in the instructions” and that the SIR is being conducted as per the instructions dated June 24.
“While submitting the filled enumeration form before July 25 is mandatory, the documents can be submitted at any time, either before July 25, 2025 or during claims and objections period,” it said.
The June 24 instructions however clearly state that the documents had to be submitted to BLOs along with the forms by July 26, and that if uploaded online, documents will be verified by BLOs during house-to-house visits.
The instructions also state that acknowledgement slips will be provided for forms and documents.
At the end of the enumeration form collection period, the EC on July 27 said that of Bihar’s 7.89 crore electors, over 7.24 crore electors had submitted their forms, “indicating overwhelming participation”.
However, it did not provide any data to show how many of those forms had been submitted with supportive documents, or how many acknowledgement receipts were provided.
On August 17, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in his first press conference since the exercise was announced also did not say how many documents had been received along with enumeration forms.
Kumar only said that the process is ongoing and “to say anything in advance would not be correct”.
It was only in the Supreme Court on September 1 that the EC said that 99.5% of Bihar’s 7.24 crore electors had submitted documents.
While the Association for Democratic Reforms, which has challenged the SIR in the Supreme Court, had sought a list of the 65 lakh electors who had been excluded from the draft roll published on August 1, the EC had resisted this saying that “no such list can be sought by the petition as a matter of right”.
The poll body on August 10 told the apex court that it is not required by the statutory framework of existing rules to publish the names of electors who are not included in draft electoral rolls, or the reasons for their non-inclusion.
However, the commission had to make the list available on its website and in public after the Supreme Court on August 14 asked the poll body to publish on its website the list of names excluded from the draft electoral rolls, along with the reasons for their exclusion, and also to accept Aadhaar from people making claims and objections regarding the draft rolls.
The EC also kept Aadhaar out of the 11 requisite documents that could be used to prove electors’ eligibility, which emerged as a major source of contention.
According to the Unique Identification Authority of India’s website, Aadhaar coverage in Bihar is at 94%.
The Wire has reported that the EC’s resistance to accepting Aadhaar brought into focus the poll body’s confusion and consequent flip-flop on the identification document.
On July 10, the Supreme Court asked the EC to consider accepting Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards in the SIR. The indicative list of 11 documents sought by the EC as proof of place or date of birth for voters who are not on the 2003 rolls did not include these three documents.
During the hearing, the poll body said that Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship but only of identity as petitioners questioned its exclusion from the list of 11 documents along with that of the voter ID card.
On August 14, the Supreme Court stated that it has to also be expressly mentioned in the public notices of the EC displaying the names of excluded voters and the reasons for their exclusion, that aggrieved persons may submit their claims along with a copy of their Aadhaar card.
CEC Kumar in his press conference later that week only then said that the poll body would comply with the Supreme Court’s directions.
In a surprising turn of events the EC told the Supreme Court that claims and objections regarding the draft electoral rolls can be filed even after September 1.
In its June 24 instructions the EC had said that only one month will be provided for filing claims and objections following the publication of the draft electoral rolls on August 1.
The claims and objections period in the June 24 instructions was stated as scheduled between August 1 and September 1.
The instructions had also said that decisions on enumeration forms received during door-to-door verification, and the disposal of claims and objections, would continue concurrently till September 25 and the final rolls would be published on September 30.
But in the Supreme Court the poll body stated that claims/objections/corrections can be submitted even after the deadline, i.e. after September 1, and that the same will be considered after the roll has been finalised. The process will continue until the last date of nominations and all inclusions/exclusions are integrated into the final roll, it said.
While this process is part of the EC’s ongoing updation of the electoral rolls, the SIR was meant to be a separate exercise in which the electoral rolls would be prepared anew.
On June 24, in its press release announcing the SIR, the EC said that the exercise, last held in 2003, had been necessitated due to various reasons, among which was the inclusion of “foreign illegal immigrants” in the electoral roll.
“Various reasons such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of an intensive revision so as to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls,” it said in its statement on June 24.
However, in its affidavit in the Supreme Court on July 21, it instead focused on demands from political parties raising concerns over irregularities in the electoral rolls as the rationale behind the exercise, and made no mention of concerns over the “names of foreign illegal immigrants” present in the rolls.
“That several recognised political parties across the spectrum have raised serious concerns regarding inaccuracies in the electoral rolls – citing inclusion of ineligible and deceased individuals and exclusion of eligible voters. These concerns arise from the limitations of the summary revision process which does not require the fresh preparation of electoral rolls. In response, and to restore public confidence in the integrity of the electoral roll, the Commission has initiated the SIR,” it said in its affidavit.
The affidavit further said that an independent appraisal had also necessitated the exercise.
It said that “upon an independent appraisal of the matter, the Commission was of the considered view that the absence of any intensive revision for nearly two decades necessitated a more rigorous and foundational exercise” and concluded that a nationwide intensive revision was “long overdue”. Accordingly the decision was taken to start the SIR in the country commencing with Bihar.
The Wire has reported that the EC has refused to provide information sought through an RTI query of the independent appraisal that was conducted, or the 2003 order through which the last such exercise was conducted in Bihar.
CEC Kumar in his press conference also did not provide the number of undocumented immigrants that were found during the exercise.
The EC has also sought to justify its seeking the 11 documents, from which the more easily available Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards were excluded.
However, its July 21 affidavit shows that the data for these documents were only sought in July, even though the exercise was announced on June 24, raising questions over whether the data was sought only after the exercise was challenged in court.
For instance, the affidavit shows that a letter from the Regional Passport Office in Patna to the Ministry of External Affairs’ Passport Seva project seeking data on the number of passports issued in Bihar was only sent on July 15.
A letter providing data on birth and death registrations in Bihar from 2001 to 2024 in the affidavit is also dated July 16.
The 11 documents sought by the EC are: birth certificate, passport, matriculation certificate, permanent residence certificate issued by a state authority, forest rights certificate, caste certificate, National Register of Citizens, family register prepared by state/local authorities, any land/house allotment certificate by the government, any identity card or pension payment order issued to a regular employee or pensioner of Union government/state government/public sector undertaking, or any such identity card/certificate/document issued by the government/local authorities/banks/post office/LIC/PSUs prior to July 1, 1987.
(This article was first published in The Wire. Republished with permission).
