Bihar elections: 7.2 crore voters in post-SIR Bihar draft roll, against 7.9 crore before

NEW DELHI: The draft roll for Bihar published by the Election Commission on Friday includes 7.24 crore electors who submitted their enumeration forms within the July 25 deadline. Bihar's electorate, as per the draft roll, is over 65.6 lakh less than its 7.9 crore strength on June 24, 2025, ahead of the onset of the special intensive revision.

This figure of 65.6 lakh, made public by EC on July 27 after conclusion of the first phase of SIR, includes 22 lakh dead electors, 36 lakh permanently shifted or absent/untraceable, 7 lakh voters enrolled at more than one place and electors who did not submit their enumeration forms.

As many as 15 districts have recorded a higher than state average, though not alarming, percentage of exclusions from the draft roll. These include Gopalganj (15.1%), Purnea (12.1%), Kishanganj (11.8%), Madhubani (10.4%) and Bhagalpur (10.2%). Kishanganj and Purnea are districts with allegedly high concentration of illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Kishanganj is also the only Muslim majority district in Bihar, while Purnia has over 38.4% Muslims.

Interestingly, Araria and Katihar - where Muslims' share in the population is 43-44% and which also allegedly have Bangladeshi immigrant settlers - have recorded exclusions (7.6% and 8.2%) short of the state average of 8.3%.

EC said any elector or party can now file claims and objections with ERO till Sept 1, seeking addition of wrongfully excluded electors or deletions of ineligible ones. From Saturday, EC will release a daily update on claims and objections.

Fewer deletions in 23 Bihar districts with big minority population

The draft roll points to an uneven pattern with 23 of the 38 districts reporting fewer deletions than the state average of 8.3%. These 23 districts include those with a notable minority population.

Booth-wise draft lists of all 90,712 polling stations across all 243 assembly constituencies have been shared with all the political parties by 38 district election officers of the state.

Videos of district presidents and BLAs of all parties, acknowledging receipt of the draft lists and appealing for claims and objections to be made over the next one month, against any wrongful inclusions and exclusions.

EC on Friday hailed the “unprecedented participation” by Bihar’s over 7.2 crore electors who turned in their enumeration forms; and the “unparallelled, transparent and impartial teamwork” by its machinery comprising the chief electoral officer, 38 DEOs, 243 electoral registration officers (EROs), 2,976 assistant EROs, booth-level officers of 90,712 polling booths and lakhs of volunteers; apart from the 1.6 lakh booth-level agents nominated by 12 political parties of the state.

The panel on Friday appealed to all eligible electors to check their names in the draft roll and, if missing, to fill and submit Form 6 with the declaration form recording their citizenship status. Young voters who turned 18 on July 1 or will become adults by Oct 1, were also told to apply through Form 6.

EC on Friday reiterated that no name can be deleted from the draft roll without giving a notice, hearing the elector and subsequently passing a written order. A two-point appeal can be filed against the ERO’s decision, first with the district magistrate and then with the CEO.