With 22L declared dead, focus shifts to 45L electors off rolls

In Bihar's draft electoral roll, state capital Patna led the tally with 3.95 lakh omitted voters, followed by Madhubani district, which now has 3.52 lakh fewer electors.

East Champaran, Gopalganj and Samastipur completed the list of top five districts in terms of voter deletion.

Focus on 45 lakh off rolls


While over 65 lakh electors have been deleted from the draft electoral roll- 22 lakh of these are dead, as per ECI.

The focus then shifts firmly on the 45 lakh electors deleted due to reasons such as non-submission of enumeration form, not found at given address, or having changed address. The window to get back on to the electoral roll for these 45 lakh people will remain open until September 1 - the last day for filing of 'claims' for inclusion in the roll, and 'objections' to seek exclusion of any elector. The latter can be filed by electors as well as political parties.

Electoral registration officers will address all claims and objections by September 25. The final electoral roll will be published on September 30.

The outreach

Meanwhile, the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Bihar has activated its full machinery to bring in more eligible electors into the fold. Special camps will be set up across all block-cum-circle offices (AEROs) and urban body offices (like Nagar Panchayat, Nagar Parishad, and Nagar Nigam circle offices) for submission of documents. The CEO further appealed with all political parties, seeking cooperation in ensuring accuracy of the electoral roll.