Bihar Assembly Election 2025: The final voter roll of Bihar after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will be published on September 30, and if reports are to be believed, the list will have 7.3 crore voters on it, which is less than the Jan 2025 voters’ list when a total of 7.8 crore names were there on it.
This means a reduction of 0.5 crore voters. However, the draft roll had 7.24 crore voters and if the final roll does have 7.3 crore names, it means the number of voters have risen in the final roll, reported Live Hindustan. It added that the final list may contain 14 lakh new names, of which 10 lakh could be the first time voters.
Many of the new names are those above 25 years of age, whose name got deleted due to some reasons in the past.
The deleted names and row around it
The biggest opposition against the SIR was the deletion of names which the parties claimed would benefit the ruling regime only. The ECI had told the Supreme Court that 65 lakhs names were deleted and as per the direction of the court, the poll panel also released the list asking voters to file objections.
The report states out of these 65 lakh, 22 lakh were deceased while the names of remaining 43 lakhs were removed for various reasons. It was this deletion that was challenged in the top court.
The ECI had in June announced SIR exercise in Bihar, setting a deadline of Sept 30 for the publication of the final roll. Reports say over 90% objections and concerns relating to the SIR have been addressed.
What SC said on Bihar SIR
The Supreme Court has heard the cases in a continuous manner and the final arguments will be heard on October 7. The top court gave a number of orders and made several observations that have now become critical to the nationwide SIR.
The court said Aadhaar is a valid identity proof and the same has to be considered by the ECI. The court also questioned the timing of the exercise in Bihar, but refused to stay it. However, it added in the last hearing that if it finds any illegality in SIR, then the entire exercise would be scrapped.