In the midst of the controversy surrounding the electoral rolls in Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday reported that no claim or objection has been filed by any political party against the draft rolls in the state going to polls.
Although 6,257 claims have been received directly by the ECI from electors so far, no claims are reported to have come from political parties.
The Election Commission has been asserting time and again that no valid elector shall be excluded and no ineligible elector shall be included in Bihar's final electoral roll.
The EC has requested the submission of "claims and objections" to correct any discrepancies in the draft electoral roll, released on August 1, after the Enumeration Phase under the SIR 2025.
Until now, despite more than a week having passed since the opening of the claims and objections period, not a single claim or objection has been made by any political party, stated the EC.
The ECI in a press release has stated that in the claims and objections for inclusion and exclusion received on the Draft Roll, a total of 6,257 complaints have been received directly from the electors.
It stated the forms obtained from fresh electors on turning 18 years or more were 36,060 till now.
The ECI has stated that, according to the new guidelines, the claims and objections of electors are to be settled by the respective Electoral Registration Officer/Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (ERO/AERO) after the passing of seven days.
The Commission has further stated that, according to SIR orders, no name can be removed from the draft list published on 1st August, 2025, without obtaining a speaking order by the ERO/AERO after making an enquiry and after providing a fair and reasonable opportunity.
On July 21-22, ADS lists of voters were made available to all political parties' booth level agents in the state. On August 1, with the release of the draft electoral rolls, unpublished booth-wise and constituency-wise lists of voters were also delivered to political representatives.
The ECI says a combined strength of 1,60,813 booth-level employees of six national parties and six state parties participated in the exercise. They are BJP's 53,338, Congress' 17,549, RJD's 47,506 and Janata Dal (United)'s 36,550.
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