Congress Alleges Irregularities in Bihar Voter List Revision, Disputes ECI Claims
The Indian national Congress has raised serious concerns regarding the recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Bihar, alleging significant irregularities in the deletion of names. Party officials claim 89 lakh complaints detailing thes issues were submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Addressing a press conference at the Bihar Congress state headquarters, All India Congress Committee chairperson of the media and publicity department, Pawan Khera, stated the party demands a re-verification of all deleted names. He was joined by Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram, and senior leaders Akhilesh Prasad and Shakeel Ahmad.
Khera refuted claims circulating through ECI sources that few complaints were being received from political parties. He detailed that the congress’s complaints focused on preventing both illegal voters and the inadvertent or deliberate removal of eligible voters from the rolls.
According to Khera, the ECI cited four primary reasons for the deletions: 25 lakh voters allegedly migrated, 22 lakh were reported as deceased, 9.7 lakh were marked as ‘not found’ at their registered addresses, and seven lakh were found to be registered in multiple locations. He also pointed to instances of voters being assigned multiple Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers.The Congress highlighted concerning patterns within the SIR data. Specifically,they noted 20,638 booths experienced the deletion of over 100 names,with 1,988 booths seeing over 200 names removed. Furthermore, the party alleges disproportionate deletion of women voters: in 7,613 booths, 70% of deleted names were women, and in 635 booths, over 75% of those deleted under the ‘migration’ category were women – a statistic Khera found particularly unusual given typical migration patterns. He also stated that in 7,931 booths, 75% of deletions were attributed to reported deaths, with some individuals later appearing at events with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Khera urged the ECI to conduct door-to-door verification to confirm the status of each deleted voter.
Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram connected the situation to earlier warnings from Rahul Gandhi and suggested the ECI operated with a “pre-conditioned mindset,” noting the deletions aligned with the ECI’s initial projection of a 20% reduction in voters due to migration. He also emphasized that many affected voters are unaware their names have been removed.
the ECI office in Bihar responded with a press note stating that, as of the date of the press conference, no booth-level agents authorized by any district president of the Indian National Congress in Bihar had submitted formal claims (Form 6) or objections (Form 7) regarding names in the draft electoral rolls published on August 1st, 2025.
