Voter Roll Revision in Bihar: 93.6% of Enumeration Forms Distributed, 13.2% Submitted Before Deadline
PATNA, Bihar, India—July 6, 2025: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has come to the number of forms to be provided for enumeration under the continuing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) for electoral rolls in Bihar on Saturday, July 5, 2025, an impressive 93.6% of enumeration forms that had been provided to the electors out of 7.90 crores in Bihar. However, the form submission rate is quite low, as only 13.2% (more than 1 crore forms) up to that date had been submitted by the voters. The last date for submitting such forms is July 25, 2025.
Intensive Distribution Campaigns
The ECI asserted that a total of 73889333 enumeration forms had been collected through the undedicated efforts of 77895 BLOs across the state conducting house calls to ensure that no eligible voter remains excluded from the revised electoral roll. The Commission has also mentioned that other reasons for the non-distribution of forms include locked houses, deceased electors, or out-migrated, traveling people, with schedules for BLOs that will conduct multiple home visits.
Progress and Requirements for Submission
As of Saturday evening this week, a total of 1,041,654 completed and signed enumeration forms were received. ECI stressed that to put an individual on the draft electoral roll expected to be published on August 1, 2025, it is mandatory that the signed pre-printed enumeration form be submitted by July 25, 2025. While such forms will accept documentation later for forms submitted without complete particulars, the signed form itself is necessary for primary inclusion.
Partially filled registration forms can also be downloaded through the ECI portal (voters.eci.gov.in) and the ECINET app for online filling and uploading by voters for this streamlining effort. More than 20,603 additional BLOs are appointed, with nearly 4 lakh volunteers from government officials, NCC cadets, and NSS members helping vulnerable populations, the PwD, and the elderly. Besides, 154,977 BLAs appointed by different political parties are collectively mobilized in carrying out SIR activities, and each BLA can submit up to 50 certified forms daily.
Political Opposition With Response from ECI
Special Intensive Revision, which is being conducted a few months ahead of the Assembly polls in time, has drawn several objections from opposition parties. They tagged the exercise “Votebandi” and alleged that potentially thousands of genuine voters would be killed, especially the marginalized sections, and out of them migrant workers who may generally lack required documentation. To this, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has maintained that it was legally mandated, an “inclusion first” exercise, and so would be completed fully transparently as per the time schedule. The ECI also clarified that no additional documents need to be given for 4.96 crore electors whose names were in the 2003 rolls; they only need to verify their details and fill in the form.
Next Phases in the Revamp Process
After the July 25 deadline, the draft electoral roll will be released on August 1, 2025. The timeline for filing claims and objections shall run from August 1 through September 1, 2025. Qualification checking will continue to be very strict after the publication of draft rolls. The final electoral roll for Bihar is scheduled to be published on September 30, 2025.
