Election Commission goes silent on infiltrators in Bihar

The Election Commission announced on Tuesday, 22 July, 2025 that 52 lakh names have been removed from the electoral roll in Bihar. In a press note titled -- "Facts revealed from Bihar SIR so far", the note said the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has so far revealed that 18 lakh electors are deceased, 26 lakh have shifted to different constituencies, and 7 lakh are enrolled in two places.

Having covered 96 per cent of the voters under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, the ECI claimed that 6.62 per cent of the voters were not found at their given addresses, 2.36 per cent of the voters were found to have died, 3.29 per cent of the voters were found to have shifted out of the state and 0.95 per cent were found enrolled at multiple places.

Significantly, the note makes no mention of infiltrators or ‘foreigners’. Even the counter affidavit filed by the election commission in the Supreme Court on 21 July makes no mention of infiltrators. While the Supreme Court is due to hear petitions challenging SIR on Monday, 28 July, there are several questions which have clouded the exercise. Here are a few of them:

Who knew about the exercise (SIR) before 24 June, 2025?

Not even the Chief Election Commissioner, it would seem, was aware of the exercise which was announced on 24 June, 2025. On 30 May, 2025 the CEC Gyanesh Kumar claimed that the Election Commission had held four thousand consultations in addition to one-on-one meetings with all political parties.

The commission also claimed that it planned to initiate 21 reforms to make the electoral system more robust. It is interesting that in none of these consultations was there even a whiff that ECI was to launch the SIR in Bihar, virtually scrapping the revised electoral roll prepared in January, 2025. It is, therefore, safe to presume that nobody even in the election commission knew about it.

How was the SIR announced on 24 June and got underway the very next day?

It remains a mystery. Since nobody presumably knew about the abrupt announcement, when were the forms printed, the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) trained, the Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of political parties informed and, as claimed by the ECI, four lakh volunteers recruited and trained? How could the exercise get underway in less than 24 hours? Or did the ECI knew it well in advance and kept it a closely guarded secret and why? Hopefully, the sequence of events will be revealed when the Supreme Court starts hearing the case again on Monday, 28 July, 2025.

What is wrong or unusual about the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar?

Revision of electoral rolls is an ongoing and continuous process, election or no election. Registration of new voters and elimination of ineligible voters following receipt of objections is also an ongoing process. The last time the electoral rolls in Bihar were revised was in January, 2025. It is not clear what made it necessary to hold the Special Intensive Revision within six months. What changed since January, 2025?

Moreover, ECI’s own rules provide for ‘Summary Revision’ and ‘Intensive Revision’ but nowhere do the roles mention ‘Special Intensive Revision’. This is the first time the term is being used and the first time the election commission is conducting it. What is more, ‘intensive revision’, rules say, is to be done in only select constituencies or in parts of constituencies if there are reports of any swift demographic change. The rules do not provide for ‘intensive revision’ of the rolls in the entire state. There is no precedence for it.

Is the exercise unconstitutional?

Neither the Opposition nor the petitioners to the Supreme Court have questioned the election commission’s mandate to conduct ‘free and fair’ elections and to ensure that non-eligible persons do not exercise their franchise. The ECI has been carrying out revisions of electoral rolls every year and nobody has objected to it.

But this is the first time that the ECI is asking voters to prove their citizenship, as a pre-condition to registration in the electoral roll. Determining citizenship is the job of the ministry of home affairs (MHA), not the ECI, the petitioners have pointed out. So, is the ECI exceeding its brief is the question. In its counter affidavit to the court, the ECI has argued that because it is required to ensure that only citizens cast votes, it does have the authority to scrutinise citizenship.

How did the ECI decide 2003 as a cut-off year?

Not even in 2003 when the election commission conducted an intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, were voters asked to produce proof of their citizenship. Nobody had to fill up a form or produce documents as proof of citizenship. SIR is therefore a departure from existing processes and established procedure.

Yet, the notification by the ECI on 24 June, 2025 drew an arbitrary cut-off mark of 2003, declaring that everybody on the electoral roll in 2003 are deemed to be citizens—although they too are required to fill up a form and attach the portion of the electoral roll from 2003 with their name as proof. It is still not clear what triggered this arbitrary cut-off year. What makes the 2003 electoral roll flawless and not the ones prepared after 2003? Is the ECI acknowledging its failure?

How is citizenship determined?

There is a citizenship Act according to which anybody born in India after 1950 or domiciled in India is a citizen of India. Earlier the identity and residence proof were enough for citizens to enrol as voters. If the ECI received objections about citizenship claims, and the objectors provided the proof needed, did the process of deletion start. ECI would serve a notice to the ‘doubtful voter’ and give him a hearing before deciding on her citizenship. SIR however is not a revision but an attempt to recreate a fresh electoral roll.

Should SIR be delinked from the assembly election due in Bihar by November, 2025?

The petitioners, political parties and activists seem to agree that the election commission, given the extraordinary circumstances in which the SIR is being conducted, should hold the assembly election on the basis of the electoral roll it prepared in January, 2025. It would give more time to the ECI to complete the exercise and to the voters to satisfy the ECI that they are indeed citizens and domiciled in the state.