Election Commission to review voters lists in 6 states this year to weed out illegal migrants

New Delhi: The Election Commission will carry out an intensive review of electoral rolls this year in six states beginning with Bihar to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth.

Bihar is going to polls this year while Assembly polls in five other states -- Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal -- are scheduled in 2026.

The move, which would be later expanded to other states, assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal foreign migrants, including from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Eventually, the poll authority will begin special intensive revision in the entire country “for the discharge of its constitutional mandate to protect the integrity of the electoral rolls”.

As part of the intense review, poll officials will carry out house-to-house verification to ensure an error-free voters list.

The terms of the legislative assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are ending in May-June next year and an intensive review of the electoral rolls in these states will commence by end of the year, officials said. However, since the Assembly polls in Bihar are due later this year, the EC decided to conduct special intensive revision there immediately.

Amid allegations by opposition parties that the EC has fudged voter data to help the BJP, the poll panel has taken additional steps in the intensive revision to ensure illegal migrants do not get enrolled in the voters list.

An additional ‘declaration form’ has been introduced for a category of applicants seeking to become electors or shifting from outside the state. They will have to prove that they were born in India before July 1, 1987 and provide any document establishing date of birth and/or place of birth.