'List of 65 lakh voters deleted from Bihar rolls uploaded within 56 hours of SC order': CEC Gyanesh Kumar

NEW DELHI: Stating that EC has uploaded the list of 65 lakh voters deleted from Bihar's draft electoral roll within 56 hours of SC's directive, CEC Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday exhorted electors and political parties in the state to file their claims and objections in the remaining 15-day timeframe, saying flagging any errors after Sept 1, shall be pointless.

Justifying its decision to undertake SIR exercise in Bihar, EC said all the political parties had, for the past two decades, been demanding that imperfections in electoral roll be corrected. "Acting on this demand, EC decided to take up SIR, starting with Bihar," he told a press conference here, while adding that the timeline for SIR in other poll-bound states will be announced "at the appropriate time".

Slamming the "vote theft" allegations levelled by opposition parties and their chiefs, EC said the electors, party representatives and booth level officers on the ground are working in a harmonious and transparent manner, endorsing the exercise with their signatures and video testimonials. "It is a matter of concern that endorsements of district presidents and booth level agents of parties are either not reaching their state level and national leadership, or the latter have chosen to overlook these, and are trying to spread misinformation," said Kumar.

Clearing the air on timing of SIR, the CEC said that since the annual summary revision was with respect to Jan 1, 2025, April 1 was too early to start the next revision, while Oct 1 would have been too close to the assembly poll due in Bihar in Nov.

As regards allegations of hundreds and thousands of voters being registered on the same address, Kumar said in the absence of proper numbering of houses/addresses by the panchayats/municipalities and also the presence of unauthorised settlements, it has been an accepted norm for EC/BLO to register voters from notional addresses, often carrying 'zero' house number. Electoral roll excerpts shared by EC with TOI, of Assam in 1966, Rajasthan in 1980, UP in 1985, show their house number as either missing or as '01'.