With eight days left for the deadline of September 1, the Election Commission said Sunday that documents of 98.2% of the electors in Bihar’s draft roll had been received so far in the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The EC, in a statement, said the work of collecting documents from electors would be completed before time, like the collection of enumeration forms in the first phase (June 25 to July 25). The EC said 3,28,847 new electors have turned 18 and above as on July 1 and those who will be 18 years by October 1 have also submitted Form 6, which is the form for enrolment.
“The SIR of Bihar is on schedule,” the EC said, adding that the Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) and Assistant EROs of Assembly constituencies would take decisions on all claims and objections and verify eligibility documents by September 25.
Out of the 7.89 crore registered electors in Bihar as on June 24, when the EC ordered the SIR, enumeration forms of 7.24 crore were received until July 25 and these electors made it to the draft roll published on August 1. The remaining about 65 lakh electors were marked as dead, shifted, enrolled at multiple places or untraceable by the Booth Level Officers, and removed from the rolls.
For electors added to the rolls after 2003, when the last intensive revision of rolls in Bihar was done, the EC requires additional documents to establish eligibility, including citizenship. In its SIR order on June 24, the EC had listed 11 documents that electors can submit, including passport, birth certificate, caste certificate and residence certificate. This list was “indicative”, not exhaustive.
However, the Supreme Court had on August 14 asked the EC to accept Aadhaar as a document for those “aggrieved” by the draft roll, i.e. the 65 lakh electors left out of the draft.
The EC is yet to disclose how many electors have submitted one of the 11 documents. As per the EC’s instructions for the SIR, the Electoral Registration Officers of each Assembly constituency will decide on inclusion of electors in the final roll based on “field inquiry, documentation or otherwise”.
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Electors have until September 1 to submit these documents in order to make it to the final roll to be published on September 30. New electors who have turned 18 years as of July 1 and those wrongly left out of the draft roll can also file claims and objections until September 1.
