Bihar voter rolls revision: ‘Wrong, unnecessary and ridiculous’

Even as the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar initiated by the Election Commission of India, one of the founders of ADR Prof Jagdeep Chhokar claimed on Sunday, 5 July, that judging by its own circular, the ECI has already disenfranchised those who became eligible to vote in the state after 2003.

In a conversation with Karan Thapar on his programme The Interview for The Wire, Prof Chhokar, a former Dean at IIM-Ahmedabad pointed out that in a circular issued on 24 June 2025, the Commission laid down a ‘presumption of citizenship’ for those whose names were there in the electoral rolls of 2003. However, the presumption does not hold for those who became voters after 2003 and all of them, it would appear, have to register themselves afresh as voters.

In other words, all ‘first time voters’ in the state in the 2004 Lok Sabha and 2005 assembly elections in Bihar and in subsequent elections for the assembly and the Lok Sabha are now required to register afresh as voters. They are required to produce their proof of birth and the place of birth. They are also required to produce the proof of birth of their parents. Although the Election Commission has listed 11 different documents which can be presented as proof of citizenship, the birth certificate is the only document that provides the place of birth.

Ironically, the National Family Health Survey of 2007 recorded that only 25 per cent of the births in Bihar were registered. The percentage was an abysmal 3.7 per cent in the year 2000. Since nobody born after 2007 is eligible to become voters in 2025, it would mean that 75 per cent of the people who became voters after 2003 are no longer on the electoral roll and may not be able to get back on the electoral roll either.

Describing the SIR as ‘not only wrong and unnecessary’, Prof Chhokar said that the exercise was close to being ‘ridiculous’. While the law authorises the Election Commission of India to conduct free and fair elections and also to conduct revision of electoral rolls at any time, the law does not authorise the Commission to change the criteria of such revision, Prof Chhokar said; nor does the law allow the election commission to determine citizenship and lay down the tests of citizenship, he added.

The documents listed by the election commission to establish proof of citizenship, as has been pointed out in earlier reports in the media, does not include Aadhaar, the biometric identification, or ration cards and job cards—which are available with over 80 per cent of the voters in Bihar. Even more absurdly, the list of documents does not even include the EPIC (Electors’ Photo Identity Card) issued to voters by the election commission itself.

Prof Chhokar also pointed out that the election commission has also bypassed the procedures laid down to delete names from electoral rolls. The procedure requires that no name can be deleted without serving one month’s notice and an opportunity to prove eligibility.

Asked to comment on NDA leaders in Bihar reassuring people that even if they fail to prove their citizenship and are disenfranchised by the election commission, they would still be eligible for benefits of welfare schemes including free ration, Prof Chhokar voiced his scepticism. If they are not acknowledged as citizens, can they still be entitled to welfare schemes of the government, he wondered aloud.