EC Decodes Bihar’s SIR for Oppn Parties

New Delhi:Amid controversy over Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll, the Election Commission on Thursday “decoded” the entire process for opposition parties to address their concerns.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar met representatives of the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, DMK, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPM, CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), and later held talks with the Samajwadi Party and YSR Congress, explaining each step of the five-phase exercise and urging all parties to appoint additional Booth Level Agents to assist voters and ensure transparency.

In the first phase, from June 25 to July 3, nearly 7.9 crore electors will receive partially pre-filled forms delivered door-to-door by 78,000 Booth Level Officers, and agents may submit up to 50 certified forms daily; electors on the January 1, 2003 roll need only submit the form and a roll extract, while others must provide one of eleven specified documents to verify birth details.

During the second phase, forms must be returned by July 25 to Electoral Registration Officers, who will also accept online submissions, with support from about four lakh volunteers. The third phase begins on August 1 with publication of the draft roll, which will include all timely submissions and omit names lacking forms. In August, officers will scrutinize each entry under Article 326 of the Constitution, distributing the draft to recognised parties free of charge and uploading it online; agents may continue to submit up to ten additional forms per day during the claims-and-objections window. From August 1 to September 1, the public may file claims or objections using Form 6, and no deletion will be made without a fair inquiry. The final electoral roll will be published on September 30.