Just under 5% of the total 7.89 crore Bihar electors covered in the Election Commission’s ongoing intensive revision drive were found to have died, shifted permanently or enrolled at more than one place, which is not allowed, an EC statement said Monday.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR), announced on June 24, aims to prepare a draft electoral roll by August 1. It will require all the electors to submit Enumeration Forms (EFs), and documents for those enrolled after January 1, 2003, by July 25.
On Monday, the EC said that 6.60 crore (83.66%) of the forms were collected by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). As per the EC’s order, the BLOs are required to make at least three visits to each home to have the forms filled up. The BLOs had completed two rounds so far, the poll panel said.
“So far 1.59% electors have been found deceased, 2.2% permanently shifted and 0.73% persons were found to be enrolled at more than one place. Therefore, 88.18% of electors have either already submitted their EFs or died or retained their names at one place or permanently shifted out of their previous place of residence. Only 11.82% of electors now remain to submit their filled EFs and many of them have sought time to submit their forms with documents in the coming days,” the EC said.
The decision of intensive revision was taken for the country but started with Bihar as Assembly polls are due in the state by November. While announcing the decision the EC had cited its “Constitutional mandate” to ensure the integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls.
The EC’s June 24 statement had said that various reasons including rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens turning eligible to vote, unreported deaths and inclusion of the names of illegal immigrants necessitated the intensive revision.
The commission is yet to issue any statement on the discovery of foreign nationals, if any, during the verification drive so far.
