Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: CEC Gyanesh Kumar ducks questions on 'illegal migrants' number

New Delhi: The Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday did not provide the number of illegal migrants whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls of Bihar prepared after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), saying that it is maintained in a decentralised way and available at Assembly, district and state level.

At a press conference to announce the schedule for Bihar Assembly elections, three journalists had sought the statistics but Kumar did not respond to it directly.

On August 17 too, Kumar at a press conference did not provide the number of foreigners or illegal immigrants whose names were found in the voters’ list in Bihar but said those identified as foreigners during the SIR will be probed by September 30.

Quoting EC sources, DH and other media organisations had on July 13 reported that the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have found a large number of people from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar in the electoral rolls of Bihar during the SIR and they stand to be omitted from the final rolls after an enquiry.

To repeated questions during the press conference on the number of voters who were omitted from the final voter list owing to their inability to prove their Indian citizenship, Kumar said all voters in Bihar had fully participated in the EC's efforts to "purify" the electoral rolls. Those who had complaints were given the opportunity to appeal to District Magistrates and the Chief Electoral Officer, he said.

During the process, he said names of 65 lakh voters were deleted at the draft stage and another 3.66 lakh while preparing the final list.

The main reasons for deletions were death, entries in more than one polling stations, permanently shifting from the locality and inability to provide proof for Indian citizenship, he said.

Kumar went on to say that electoral rolls are prepared in a decentralised way with the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) tasked with the assignment at Assembly level. Aggrieved people can approach District Magistrates and CEO and the statistics are available with EROs, District Electoral Officers and the CEO, he said.

When pointed out that the EC had provided detailed statistics of voters could not be included due to deaths, permanent migration and duplicate voters as well as its defence of the right to verify eligibility criteria, including citizenship, he said names were deleted due to their ineligibility and the electoral process is done in a decentralised way. "We have given you the total figures," he said.

The EC had in a press note on July 27, two days after the first phase of SIR ended, said that enumeration forms were collected from 7.24 crore of 7.89 crore voters, who were enrolled at that time. It had then said that they have found around 22 lakh dead, 36 lakh who have permanently shifted and seven lakh who are enrolled in multiple places in the electoral rolls and were ineligible to be added.

While announcing the SIR, the EC had in a statement on June 24 said that various reasons such as "rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of names of foreign illegal immigrants" have necessitated the conduct of an intensive revision to ensure the integrity and preparation of error free electoral rolls.