New Delhi: The Chief Electoral Officer [CEO] of Bihar on August 26 dismissed the claims made by The Wire and Newslaundary in their ground reports on Special Intensive Revision [SIR] drive.
Refuting the claim that Election Commission of India [ECI] failed to carry out thorough door-to-door verification during the ongoing SIR exercise, Bihar CEC in a post on X said that the claim is ‘beyond facts and fabricated’.
“In Bihar during the Special Intensive Revision period, verification of 7.89 crore voters was conducted house-to-house by Booth Level Officers. As of the Draft list published on August 1, documents of 99.11 per cent of the 7.24 electors have already been received, and verification is ongoing in the remaining cases. Therefore, the claim that ‘house-to-house verification was not done in the SIR’ is beyond facts and fabricated,” said CEC Bihar in a post.
Dismissing the claim of voter clustering, the CEC said “In rural and semi-urban areas of Bihar, multiple families live at the same addresses and under the same house number, same Khata number/Tola/Mohalla.”
“Due to absence of land or house number in revenue records, sometimes hundreds of voters appear registered at the ‘same addresses’. This is a local socio-geographical reality, not any kind of irregularity. Therefore, considering clustering as ‘irregularity’ based solely on data is misleading and beyond facts,” added the post.
The wire की रिपोर्ट की तथ्यों पर आधारित पड़ताल
The wire की यह रिपोर्ट भ्रामक है।1. विशेष गहन पुनरीक्षण (SIR) का दायरा और प्रक्रिया
बिहार में विशेष गहन पुनरीक्षण अवधि में 7.89 करोड़ मतदाताओं का घर-घर जाकर सत्यापन बूथ लेवल अधिकारियों द्वारा किया गया।
दिनांक 01 अगस्त को… https://t.co/GIa8BAotmM— Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar (@CEOBihar) August 26, 2025
Refuting the reports of so-called incorrect addresses and unfamiliar names in the list, the official pointed out that “Often, names of students, migrant workers, or tenants are listed in the voter list, but current local residents may not have information about them.”
The CEO underscored that “During the Claims and Objection period, the BLOs have acted on filling Form 7 [for deletion] or Form 8 [for address correction]. Therefore, saying that local people do not have information about the electors’ names is not in itself a certified error, and there is no rational basis for such claims.”
Highlighting about the transparency and impartiality of the process, the official noted that even after the release of the Draft Electoral Roll, all political parties and citizens have been given the opportunity to file claims and objections [Both in online and offline mode] in a period between August 1 to September 1, 2025.
“In this way the process is not only transparent but also open for correction of any errors found by any citizens/political party,” read the post further.
The official also noted that while the report of ‘The Wire’ is based on only 14 cases [under investigation] in the assembly constituencies of Katihar, Purnea, Madhuban and Harisiddhi, the scope of SIR extended to 7.89 crore voters across 243 assembly constituencies.
“Raising questions on the credibility of the entire process based on such a small partial selected cases, is neither rational nor objective,” added CEO, Bihar.
Newslaundry की रिपोर्ट की तथ्यों पर आधारित पड़ताल, Newslaundry की यह रिपोर्ट भ्रामक है।
1. विशेष गहन पुनरीक्षण (SIR) का दायरा और प्रक्रिया
बिहार में विशेष गहन पुनरीक्षण अवधि में 7.89 करोड़ मतदाताओं का घर-घर जाकर सत्यापन बूथ लेवल अधिकारियों द्वारा किया गया।
दिनांक 01… https://t.co/X4VZnlD7Dc— Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar (@CEOBihar) August 26, 2025
The official in another post debunked similar claims made by the Newslaundary terming it ‘misleading’.
ECI’s voter revision drive in Bihar
ECI commenced a voter revision drive [SIR] in the state on June 25, aiming to overhaul the state’s electoral list by September 30.
The Commission published the draft electoral list on August 1, disclosing that around 65 lakh voters registered in the electoral list previously are either found to be deceased, permanently migrated or enrolled at multiple places.
The poll body urged the political parties or voters to submit Claims or Objections regarding inclusion or exclusion of any individual from the draft electoral list in a window opening from August 1 to September 1, 2025.
As per SIR orders, no name can be deleted from the draft list publishing on August 1, 2025 without passing a speaking order by the ERO/AERO after conducting an enquiry and after giving a fair and reasonable opportunity.
Opposition to voter revision drive
The ECI’s drive aimed at preparing an appropriate voter list however stirred a major political row with opposition parties staging protest against the exercise.
A number of leaders from the opposition parties along with NGOs such as the ADR also approached the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the drive. The petitioner also urged the apex court to include documents such as Voter ID, Ration Cards and Aadhaar Cards in the list of indicative documents for inclusion in the electoral list.
The petitions challenging the ECI’s drive were filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PUCL, Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam.
ECI publishes list of deleted voters
Meanwhile, the Commission recently also uploaded the list of names and details of 65 lakh electors in Bihar who were not included in the draft roll published on August 1 on the websites of all 38 District Electoral Officers in the state.
The uploaded list also contained the reasons for the non-inclusion of previously enrolled electors, including death, shifting of ordinary residence or duplicate entries.
As per poll panel, physical copies of the list are also displayed in Panchayat Bhavans, block development offices, and Panchayat offices in villages across Bihar, allowing people easy access and enabling them to make enquiries. Advertisements about the online availability of the lists had also been issued in major newspapers, on radio and television and posted on social media.
The opposition leaders though, have continued with their protest against the SIR drive. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi along with other leaders of Mahagathbandhan is also undertaking a Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, opposing the ECI’s exercise. The Yatra commenced a week after Rahul Gandhi in a press conference accused the ECI for vote manipulation in collusion with the BJP.
The poll body on August 17 however strongly countered the allegations of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, urging him to either submit an affidavit over the allegations within 7 days or apologies to the nation.
NDA leaders however have strongly backed the ECI’s SIR drive, stating that the revision exercise will ensure a fair electoral list and the opposition is politicising the issue for vote bank politics and electoral gains.
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