New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) asserted on Sunday that the draft electoral roll to be published in Bihar is not the final voters’ list, saying a month’s time will be available to include eligible electors and exclude those ineligible.
The draft roll is scheduled to be published on August 1 and the final roll on September 30.
The poll panel also said at the end of the month-long first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral roll, enumeration forms from 7.24 crore or 91.69 per cent voters of the state have been received.
It added that 36 lakh people were found to have either permanently shifted from their previous addresses or were not found. The EC also pointed out that seven lakh Bihar voters were found to have enrolled themselves at multiple places.
The first phase of the SIR related to distributing and receiving back enumeration forms ended on Friday (July 25). The EC said booth-level officers did not find these electors or get back their enumeration forms because they have either become voters in other states or Union territories, or were not found in existence, or did not submit the forms till July 25.
Another reason was that they were not willing to register themselves as voters for some reason or the other.
The poll watchdog said the exact status of these voters will be known after a scrutiny of these forms by August 1.
“However, genuine electors can still be added back in electoral rolls during the Claims and Objection period from August 1 to September 1. The name of the electors found enrolled at multiple places in electoral rolls will be retained only at one place,” the EC said in a statement.
Separately, the poll authority said it is “not able to understand” that when a month-long period from August 1 to September 1 is available to point out wrongful inclusions and exclusions of voters’ names, “why are they creating such a big fuss now”?
It said political parties are free to check with their workers on the actual progress of the process.
“Why not ask their 1.6 lakh booth-level agents to submit claims and objections from August 1 till September 1?” the commission quipped.
The booth-level agents appointed by political parties work with the EC’s booth-level officers in preparing or updating the voters’ list.
“Why are some persons trying to give an impression that the draft list is the final list, which it is not, as per Special Intensive Revision orders,” the EC statement said.
Various opposition parties in Bihar, which is slated to go to polls later this year, have claimed that crores of eligible citizens will be disenfranchised during the roll revision for want of documents.
They have also claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will benefit from it as the state machinery will target people opposed to the ruling alliance in the state.
The EC said the first aim of the SIR is to ensure the participation of all electors and political parties.