Bihar, October 1, 2025: The final electoral roll of Bihar, published on Tuesday, now lists 7.42 crore voters, marking a 6% decline from the 7.89 crore registered on June 24, 2025, the day the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced a three-month Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across the state.
While the SIR was initially defended by the ECI as a measure to verify citizenship, sources in Bihar have confirmed that nearly 99% of the deletions were due to deaths, permanent migration, and duplicate entries, with foreign nationals having negligible impact on the list.
Key Figures from the Bihar SIR
- Total names deleted: 68.6 lakh
- Draft stage deletions (August 1): 65 lakh
- Claims and objections stage: 3.66 lakh
- Reasons for deletions:
- Deaths: 22 lakh (draft stage) + ~60,000 (final stage)
- Permanent migration or absence: 36 lakh (draft stage) + 2 lakh (final stage)
- Duplicate enrolments: 7 lakh (draft) + 80,000 (final)
- New voters added: 21.53 lakh
- Percentage of women voters: Dropped slightly from 47.75% to 47.15%
The ECI clarified that the exercise was carried out under Article 326 of the Constitution, aiming to ensure that “no eligible voter is left out, and no ineligible person is included”. Citizens can still challenge deletions through appeals to the District Magistrate or the Chief Electoral Officer under the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
Background and Controversy
The SIR differs from the annual “summary revision” as it involves house-to-house enumeration to prepare the rolls from scratch, rather than updating existing lists. The ECI cited reasons such as rapid urbanisation, migration, inclusion of new voters, and outdated records for the intensive revision.
Opposition parties had criticised the SIR for its citizenship verification aspect, alleging it could disenfranchise legitimate voters. The Supreme Court reviewed the process but did not halt the exercise, though it allowed Aadhaar as an additional document to establish identity for enrolment.
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Document Requirements
The SIR required existing electors to provide documents based on their birth year:
- Born before July 1, 1987: Proof of own birth details
- Born July 1, 1987 – December 2, 2004: Proof for self and one parent
- Born after December 2, 2004: Proof for self and both parents
Despite initial confusion and political opposition, the final voter list reflects only genuine corrections, with citizenship proving minimal factor in deletions.
The ECI is expected to review the Bihar experience before rolling out the SIR nationwide, though no schedule has yet been announced. The intensive revision was first launched in Bihar due to upcoming Assembly elections in November 2025.
