The Election Commission of India announced Friday that 99.8 per cent of voters in poll-bound Bihar have been covered under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. According to the ECI, forms of more than 7.23 crores voters have been received and digitised. Their names will be published on August 1, 2025.

Rest of the forms and reports from Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are also expected to be finished by the above date.

As part of the clean-up of voter lists, 22 lakh names have been marked as deceased, 7 lakh voters were found registered in more than one place, and around 35 lakh people were either untraceable or had permanently moved away. About 1.2 lakh forms are still awaited.

99.8% Bihar voters covered so far

On July 20, a list of voters who are dead, have migrated, or didn’t submit forms was shared with 12 political parties including BJP, Congress, RJD, JD(U), AAP, CPM, and others so that they could check and raise any objections before the Draft Roll is finalised.

This large-scale revision is being carried out with the help of over 77,000 BLOs, nearly 3,000 assistant officers, and more than 1.6 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) representing all major parties.

Forms of 7.23 crore electors have been received and digitised; the names of all these electors will be included in the Draft Electoral Roll. The digitisation of forms, along with BLO reports, of the remaining electors will also be completed by August 1, 2025.

The lists of those electors who have not filled the forms or are deceased and those who have permanently migrated have already been shared on July 20 with all the 12 political parties so that errors if any can be corrected in the Draft Electoral Roll to be published on August 1.

These 12 parties include:

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Indian National Congress
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)
Janata Dal (United) – JDU
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (Liberation)
Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)
National People’s Party
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

The Election Commission of India (ECI) says

Since June 24, 2025, the local BLOs/BLAs have reported the following:
Names of approximately 22 lakh deceased electors.

Approximately 7 lakh electors registered in more than one location.

Approximately 35 lakh electors have either permanently migrated or could not be traced.

Enumeration forms of approximately 1.2 lakh electors yet to be received.

The credit for the successful completion of the first phase of SIR so far, goes to the CEO of Bihar, 38 DEOs, 243 EROs, 2,976 AEROs, BLOs deployed at 77,895 polling booths, volunteers, all 12 political parties, their 38 District Presidents, and the 1.60 lakh BLAs nominated by them (list attached).

As per the SIR order, from August 1 to September 1, any elector or political party may fill the prescribed forms and submit claims to the ERO for any eligible elector who is left-out or file objections for removal of any ineligible elector.

ECI completes first phase of SIR before SC hearing on petitions against SIR

The ECI completed the first phase of SIR just three days before the Supreme Court’s second hearing on petitions against the SIR filed by Opposition parties and activists. The petition has been filed claiming that SIR in Bihar could lead to disenfranchising the poor and migrant workers.

During the July 10 hearing of the same, the apex court had stated that ECI could consider Aadhaar, voter ID cards and ration cards as documents of proof of date of birth and place.

Why SIR is needed in Bihar?

Why SIR is necessary for Bihar? Explaining the same, the Election Commission has said that the exercise, which is being held in Bihar after 22 years, is necessary because a significant change in electoral roll has taken place due to additions and deletions on a large scale during the last 22 years and hence an intensive revision becomes crucial.

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