83.66% of 7.89 crore Bihar electors to be included in draft electoral roll, says Election Commission

New Delhi: The names of over 6.60 crore out of the total 7.89 crore electors of Bihar will be included in the draft electoral roll, the Election Commission (EC) said on Monday amid the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters' list.

The poll authority said with 11 more days left for the last date of submission of the filled enumeration forms (EFs) in the ongoing Bihar SIR, EFs of 6,60,67,208 or 83.66 per cent of the 7,89,69,844 electors in Bihar have been collected after two rounds of door-to-door visits by booth-level officers (BLOs).

So far 1.59 per cent of electors have been found deceased, 2.2 per cent permanently shifted and 0.73 per cent were found to be enrolled at more than one place.

"Therefore, 88.18 per cent of electors have either already submitted their EF or died or retained their names at one place or permanently shifted out of their previous place of residence. Only 11.82 per cent of electors now remain to submit their filled EFs and many of them have sought time to submit their forms with documents in the coming days," the commission said.

It said for the electors who may have temporarily migrated out of the state, focused efforts through newspaper advertisements and direct contact with such persons are being made to ensure that they are able to fill their EFs well in time and have their names also included in the draft roll to be published on August 1.

Such electors can easily fill up EFs online using their mobile phones through the ECINet App or the online system. They can also send their forms to the concerned BLOs through their family members or any online means, including WhatsApp or similar applications.

In the fourth phase of intensive revision in Bihar, the draft electoral roll will be published on August 1. The list will include all electors whose forms have been received by the deadline.

Names for which no enumeration form has been submitted before July 25 will not appear in the draft roll.

Electoral registration officers and assistant electoral registration officers will scrutinise the forms against the eligibility criteria laid down in Article 326 of the Constitution, which requires electors to be Indian citizens, aged 18 or above, and ordinarily resident in the constituency.

Copies of the draft roll will be provided to recognised political parties free of cost and uploaded on the EC website.

Electors who miss the initial deadline can still apply during the claims and objections period using Form 6 along with a declaration form. Booth-level agents (BLAs) can continue to submit up to 10 forms per day even after the draft roll is published.

In the fifth phase, from August 1 to September 1, any member of the public can file claims and objections. During this time, the electoral registration officers and assistant electoral registration officers will scrutinise applications and objections.

The public can file claims for inclusion or raise objections to existing entries in the draft roll. No deletion will be made without due inquiry and providing the person concerned a fair hearing.

The final electoral roll will be published on September 30.