DC Edit | EC Must Use Bihar Lessons For Nationwide SIR Rollout

The special intensive revision (SIR) of the Bihar electoral roll by the Election Commission of India has produced a sanctified one with 7.42 crore names, which reflects a deletion of 68.86 lakh voters and an addition of 21.53 lakh. The stated objective of the exercise was “to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll so as to enable them to exercise their franchise, no ineligible voter is included in the electoral rolls and also to introduce complete transparency in the process of addition or deletion of electors in the electoral rolls”. Now that the exercise is over, it is for the EC to say whether it has achieved the objective.

The exercise started on June 24, 2025, with an electoral roll of 7.89 crore people, out of whom 65 lakh were removed from the draft list since they were either absent, had moved or were dead. The list, published on August 1, had 7.24 crore voters on it. Out of them, 3.66 lakh were found to be ineligible and therefore removed. And 21.53 lakh new names were added. Hence, the final number of 7.42 crores.

The Bihar SIR exercise started without much of advance information, at least for the people of the state. The EC had stated that it will retain the names of all those whose names were there in the electoral roll of 2003 when the last SIR was conducted. All others will have to show proof that they are Indian citizens to retain their names on the list, and they can do so by producing one of the 11 documents the poll panel had listed in 30 days.

Political parties, especially those in the Opposition, and advocacy groups objected to the exercise being conducted in such a hurry. There are many people who did not have the documents the Commission had prescribed and they might take time to organise them, they argued. Then there are people living or working outside the state who would find it tough to go back home and produce them on time. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, intervened and said the EC must take the Aadhaar card as a document though it refused to stall the process. The EC has now said anyone who has been left out of the exercise can still get herself registered as a voter by producing the relevant document until 10 days ahead of the date for the submission of nomination for the Assembly election.

As the Supreme Court has repeatedly pointed out, the EC is very well within its constitutional right to conduct an exercise that will ensure free and fair elections based on a sanctified electoral roll. However, it should ensure that it is an exercise of inclusion, not exclusion, as the apex court insisted. In a country where lakhs of people have no document to prove that they exist, it takes an extra ordinary commitment to democratic values to ensure that every Indian citizen is part of the electoral exercise. A single Indian left out for want of document will be a blot on the Election Commission while the absence of such a complaint will prove it has been moving on the right track.

Now that the Bihar SIR is over, the poll panel will roll out the exercise across the nation. It will be in the interest of democracy and democratic institutions, EC included, that it factors the lessons learnt from the Bihar exercise.