Opposition parties in Bihar warn that the Election Commission’s rushed voter roll revision could disenfranchise millions and undermine democracy just before state elections.
A major political storm has erupted after a coalition of 11 opposition parties, united under the INDIA bloc, accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of endangering democracy in Bihar through a large-scale revision of the state’s electoral rolls just months before the crucial assembly elections.
The opposition leaders, representing Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), Samajwadi Party, and others, met with the Election Commission on Wednesday to voice their strong objections to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list. They warned that the process — dubbed “votebandi” — could disenfranchise up to two crore voters, particularly among the state’s poor, migrant workers, and marginalised communities.
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, speaking to the media after the meeting, called the timing of the revision “neither practical nor fair,” given that it involves verifying the credentials of over 7.75 crore voters in a window of just one month, with assembly elections only two to three months away. “This is a violation of the level playing field essential for free and fair elections,” Singhvi said, adding that the suddenness of the move and the demand for documentary proof — such as birth certificates — could exclude those unable to produce such records, especially Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and migrant laborers.
CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya went further, labeling the exercise as “arbitrary and ill-planned” and comparing it to the shock of demonetisation, questioning why voters were being “caught off guard.” He demanded that the ECI withdraw the revision and stick to the normal process of annual roll updates.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of influencing the ECI to “strip Bihar and its people of their voting rights,” claiming the revision was a conspiracy to remove names from the rolls and undermine welfare entitlements linked to voter ID status.
The ECI, however, defended its actions, stating all concerns were addressed and that the special revision was part of a broader exercise also being carried out in other states heading to polls next year. A senior official noted that over 1.5 lakh booth-level agents have been appointed to ensure no eligible voter is left out.
