EC says no objection filed by any political party to Bihar's draft electoral roll so far

New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) Amid the row over the electoral rolls in Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday said that not a single claim or objection has been submitted by any political party regarding the draft rolls in the poll-bound state.

While the ECI has received 6,257 claims directly from electors so far, there have not been any claims from political parties.

The Election Commission has been repeatedly stating that no eligible elector will be left out and no ineligible elector will be included in the final electoral roll of Bihar.

The EC has asked to submit “claims and objections" to rectify any errors in the draft electoral roll, which was published on August 1, following the completion of the Enumeration Phase under the SIR 2025.

So far, after over a week since the beginning of the claims and objections period, not even a single claim or objection has been submitted by any political party, said the EC.

The ECI in a press note has said that under the claims and objections for inclusion and exclusion received regarding the Draft Roll, a total of 6,257 complaints have been received directly from the electors.

It said the forms received from new electors on attaining 18 years of age or above were 36,060 so far.

The ECI has said that, as per the new rules, the claims and objections by electors are to be disposed of by the concerned Electoral Registration Officer/Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (ERO/AERO) after the expiry of seven days.

The Commission has also said that, as per SIR orders, no name can be deleted from the draft list published on August 1, 2025, without passing a speaking order by the ERO/AERO after conducting an enquiry and after giving a fair and reasonable opportunity.

On July 21-22, lists of Absent, Dead, and Shifted (ADS) voters were provided to Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of all recognised political parties in the state. On August 1, with the publication of the draft electoral rolls, booth-wise and constituency-wise lists of unpublished voters were also handed over to political representatives.

According to the ECI, a total of 1,60,813 booth-level workers of six national parties and six state-level parties were involved in the exercise. These include the BJP's 53,338, Congress' 17,549, the RJD's 47,506 and Janata Dal (United)'s 36,550.

--IANS

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