CEC Gyanesh Kumar says pure voters' list key to strengthen democracy

Gyanesh Kumar also highlighted that not one complaint was filed challenging inclusion or exclusion of electors during the roll revision exercise in Bihar last year.

New Delhi: Against the backdrop of opposition parties questioning the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday asserted that a "pure" voters' list is the key to strengthening democracy.

Addressing the inaugural session of an international conference of election management bodies here, he also highlighted that not one complaint was filed challenging inclusion or exclusion of electors during the roll revision exercise in Bihar last year.

Kumar also noted that not even a single repoll was ordered in the two phases of Bihar Assembly elections in any of the one lakh polling stations.

"Pure electoral roll, including each and every elector as per law, is essential to strengthen democracy and all the elections which will be held on the basis of that electoral roll," CEC Kumar said.

He said electoral rolls in Bihar were revised amid tight public scrutiny.

From purification of rolls to the conduct of elections, a great level of efficiency was achieved by the local poll machinery.

Opposition parties have been attacking the BJP government and the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), alleging it is a move to manipulate votes.

However, the government and EC have denied the charge.

Phase II of the SIR began in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal on November 4 last year.

In Assam, a separate 'special revision' of electoral rolls is in progress.

The last SIR in states will serve as the cut-off date, just as the 2003 voter list of Bihar was used by the ECI for intensive revision.

Most states had the last SIR of the voter list between 2002 and 2004.

The primary aim of the SIR is to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth. The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal migrants, including those from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Nearly 100 delegates from around 70 countries are attending the International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM-2026).

IICDEM-2026 is the largest conference of its kind ever hosted by India in the field of democracy and election management.