2024 ECI survey in Bihar found 'near-perfect accuracy' in voter rolls: Congress

Congress accused the Election Commission (EC) of using the special intensive revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls as a tool to undermine democracy rather than strengthen it, citing the EC’s own survey findings.

Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh referred to the Commission’s 2024 KAP (Knowledge, Attitude and Practices) survey, which covered all 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar. The survey, conducted soon after the Lok Sabha elections, noted a “near-perfect accuracy” in voter rolls and highlighted the “robustness of the electoral roll system.”

Sharing a media report on X, Ramesh argued that the EC itself had admitted the rolls were already accurate, with the bigger issue being the non-enrolment of eligible citizens due to cumbersome paperwork and lack of awareness.

“The EC’s focus should be inclusion, not exclusion,” he said, pointing out that many respondents cited difficulties in securing voter cards.

Ramesh questioned what had changed since January 2025, when the EC found no urgent need for such a revision. “Was it perhaps the plea of a prime minister desperate to secure his post and prop up his fragile NDA coalition through the promise of a rigged election in Bihar?” he asked.

Calling the exercise politically motivated, Ramesh alleged, “The SIR is less about cleansing electoral rolls and more about destroying democracy itself.”

With PTI inputs