“The Election Commission (EC) must clearly explain why 3.66 lakh additional voters were removed from the rolls,” stated CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. He emphasized that the lack of transparency in Bihar’s final electoral roll, published recently ahead of the state’s Assembly elections, is a serious issue.
Bhattacharya highlighted four critical problems with the updated voter list. “Firstly, we still lack information on how many individuals incorrectly removed from the draft roll have been reinstated. The alarming rate of women being deleted from the voter lists is also deeply troubling,” he explained.
Prior to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the electoral roll showed 914 women for every 1,000 male voters. This figure has now dropped to 892. Bhattacharya pointed out, “Numerous constituencies now have fewer voters in the final list compared to the draft roll released on August 1.”
The final electoral roll, published on September 30, 2025, contains 7.42 crore names. Before the SIR, on June 24, 2025, the state had 7.89 crore voters. While the draft list of August 1, 2025, showed 7.24 crore names with 65 lakh removals, the final list saw 21.53 lakh additions and another 3.66 lakh deletions.
“The EC instructed those wrongly deleted to use Form 6, typically for first-time voters, to re-enroll. The EC needs to clarify how many of these Form 6 additions are indeed new voters,” he asserted.
Bhattacharya also raised concerns about reports indicating that approximately 6,000 deletions were due to individuals being identified as “non-citizens of India.” This figure was not disclosed after the draft roll. “This is a substantial number. The EC must provide precise answers on how these figures were determined,” he added.
He concluded by stating, “If satisfactory answers are not provided, the Opposition will be compelled to approach the Supreme Court once again.”