EC began Bihar roll revision without data and shifted goalposts midway, court document shows

The first phase of the special intensive revision of Bihar’s voter list concludes on Saturday. By all accounts, the Election Commission of India did not have it easy.

It battled criticism from the Opposition parties, the press and the civil society and the intensive revision was challenged in court. It was asked by the Supreme Court to explain the rationale and timing of the exercise.

The poll body had cited the need for a fresh electoral roll as it claimed that the current list has been corrupted by voter migration, urbanisation and undocumented immigrants.

The unprecedented exercise it designed for Bihar demanded that every voter would have to prove that they are Indian citizens before being allowed to vote. Those with their names in the 2003 electoral roll – the last time an intensive revision was carried out in Bihar – were assumed to be Indian citizens provided they produced a copy of the voter list from 22 years ago.

By the Election Commission’s own estimate, at least 2.93 crore voters would have to produce documentary proof to have their names retained on the electoral roll, with only months to go for the Assembly poll in the state.

On July 21, the commission filed an affidavit to justify the revision...

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