New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] has attacked the Mahagathbandhan [Grand Alliance] parties over their opposition to the Election Commission of India’s [ECI] ongoing Special Intensive Revision [SIR] drive in Bihar.
Launching a scathing attack on the opposition parties over their protest to the ECI’s voter revision drive, BJP leader and Member of Parliament [MP] Sanjay Jaiswal on August 4 said ‘If the Leader of Opposition [LoP] has created illegal Voter IDs and kept two voter IDs and if the CPI[ML] Liberation MP’s wife has two voter IDs; it suggests that the INDIA block leaders have instructed their workers to produce more fake voter IDs at each booth.
The BJP lawmaker further claimed that the hopes of the INDIA bloc leaders to gain some votes from these fake voters are being cancelled with the cancellation of these votes in the SIR drive which is why the INDIA alliance was staging a drama for ten days.
Jaiswal pointed out that each political parties in Bihar including the Congress, RJD and left parties have appointed BLAs [Booth Level Agents] who have not raised any objections on the SIR drive.
‘None of the BLAs appointed by the political parties who are opposing the SIR drive have raised any objections about any illegal entry of names on their booths. They [political parties] wanted their fake voters to be there and now they fear to be exposed that is why they are not raising objections on booths but protesting in Delhi, alleged Jaiswal.
#WATCH | Delhi: On opposition's protest against SIR, BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal says, "…If the Leader of Opposition has created illegal voter IDs and kept two voter card IDs, and if the CPI(ML) Liberation MP's wife has two voter IDs, it suggests that the INDIA Block leaders have… pic.twitter.com/CbLiyFsF7q
— ANI (@ANI) August 4, 2025
Jaiswal’s attack comes hours after the ECI issued a notice to Rashtriya Janata Dal [RJD] leader Tejashwi Yadav to submit his EPIC for a thorough enquiry into the matter.
The Commission issued a notice to the Bihar LoP after he alleged change in his EPIC number. Addressing a presser in the state’s capital Yadav on Saturday alleged that his EPIC number was changed.
This comes after the Bihar LoP claiming that his name was not in the draft electoral list published by the ECI. The Commission however was quick to point out the name of the RJD leader in the electoral list.
ECI’s voter revision drive in Bihar
It must be noted here that ECI commenced a voter revision drive in the state on June 25 aiming to overhaul the state’s electoral list by September 30.
The ECI after completion of the first phase of SIR drive published the draft electoral list on August 1, disclosing that around 65 lakh voters registered in the electoral list earlier are either found to be deceased, permanently migrated or enrolled at multiple places.
According to media reports a significant chunk of such electors were removed after the first phase. This includes removal of 1.4 lakh [around 11 per cent] voters from bordering districts of Kishanganj alone.
The exclusion of such voters in the fresh list according to many could be decisive in electoral outcome particularly in constituencies where the margin of win or loss is under 4-5 per cent.
The Commission however has asked the political parties or voters to submit any claim or objections regarding inclusion or exclusion of any individual from the draft electoral list in a window opening from August 2 to September 1. The poll body in a press release on Sunday informed that no claims or objections have been received by the Commission from the BLAs till August 3 afternoon.
Opposition to the SIR drive
The ECI drive however stirred a major political row with opposition parties staging protest and its leaders approaching the apex court. A number of leaders from the opposition parties along with other petitioners approached the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the drive along inclusion of documents such as Voter ID, Ration Cards and Aadhaar Cards in the list of indicative documents for inclusion in the electoral list.
The petitioners have claimed that the exclusion of documents such as Aadhaar, Ration or Voter ID for inclusion in the electoral list could lead to removal of large numbers of voters, particularly from the marginalised sections of the society.
The ECI in its submission before the court however stated that the aforesaid documents are not reliable for inclusion in the voter list prepared by the Commission.
The SC after hearing both the parties has asked the ECI to consider Voter ID and Aadhaar for inclusion in the voter list while refusing to stay the revision drive. The matter will be next heard by the court on August 11 and 12.
The opposition leaders had earlier also called a bandh [shutdown] against the revision drive in Bihar along staging protest over the issue in both the state legislative assembly and the parliament premise.
The NDA leaders on the other side have maintained that the ECI drive will ensure a fair electoral list while removing the ineligible voters whose name should not be there in the voter list. The NDA leaders have also alleged the opposition for politicising the issue for vote bank politics and electoral gains.
State Assembly polls are schedule to be held in winters this year with ECI yet to announce dates for the electoral contest where the RJD-Congress led Mahagathbandhan will be up against the ruling BJP-JDU led NDA alliance.
