Bihar Voter Roll Revision Sparks Political Controversy

The Election Commission of India has informed the Supreme Court that 99.5% of Bihar's 7.24 crore voters have submitted eligibility documents as part of a special intensive revision (SIR) exercise. This revision, crucial for upcoming elections, saw significant engagement from individual electors, with over 15 lakh new applications submitted for inclusion.

However, the Election Commission noted minimal involvement from political parties, aside from RJD and CPI-ML, in assisting electors with claims and objections. The EC emphasized that most received forms sought the exclusion of names from draft electoral rolls, with only a fraction related to inclusion.

The Supreme Court has requested political parties to respond to the EC's findings by September 8. Meanwhile, the controversy has escalated due to the reduction in registered voters, from 7.9 crore to 7.24 crore, following the revision—the first of its kind in Bihar since 2003.

(With inputs from agencies.)