Allow Aadhaar and ration cards as key documents for Bihar special revision of electoral roll: INDIA bloc

A delegation of INDIA bloc leaders on Friday (July 4, 2025) met Bihar Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vinod Singh Gunjiyal to raise their objection over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls currently under way in Bihar.

INDIA bloc coordination committee head and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav led the delegation, which said that the Union and State governments were hatching a conspiracy to prevent the deprived sections of society from exercising their franchise in the upcoming Assembly election in Bihar.

The INDIA bloc leaders termed the revision “impractical” and “anti-democratic”. They demanded that Aadhar cards, ration cards and MGNREGA cards be included among the key documents allowed for the verification and revision of the voter list.

RJD State president Mangani Lal Mandal, RJD leaders Manoj Kumar Jha, Sanjay Yadav and Alok Kumar Mehta, Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Kumar, Congress Leader of Legislative Party (CLP) Shakeel Ahmad, Vikassheel Insaan Party’s Mukesh Sahni, the CPI(ML)’s Kumar Parvez, the CPI’s Ram Naresh Pandey and the CPI(M)’s Lalan Choudhary were part of the delegation.

“On the instruction of Nitish Kumar, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, these things are happening because they have realised that they are losing the election and they will be thrown out of power in Bihar. Only 22 days are left, how will the Election Commission verify nearly 8 crore voters? Why do the people of Bihar need to prove their citizenship in the country?” Mr. Yadav asked

He further said, “On the same voter list, the 2024 Lok Sabha election was conducted. If that voters list was fake, then election was also fake and the government which was formed too was fake. Why was this decision taken in haste?”

“Around 3 crore registered people from Bihar have migrated to other states to earn a living. Nothing is being said clearly about such people,” Mr. Yadav said.

He added that the EC and the government should clarify how many people possess the documents out of the 11 documents that have been asked for.

Meanwhile, P. Pawan, Deputy Director of the Election Commission Of India, in an official press note stated that the preliminary visit of booth-level officers (BLOs) to nearly 1.5 crore households in the State had been completed. As many as 6,86,17,932 enumeration forms (87%) of the total of 7,89,69,844 electors in Bihar who are enrolled as on June 24, 2025, have been distributed.

“The remaining houses could be locked, or of dead electors, or of migrants or of those who may be travelling. Since, the BLOs shall be visiting the houses of the electors three times during the exercise, these figures are likely to increase further,” Mr. Pawan said in the statement.

The EC added that nearly five per cent had filled up and signed the forms, that is, nearly 38 lakh forms have already been received by the BLOs.

Meanwhile, the RJD’s national executive, at a meeting in Patna decided to oppose the revision of the voter list. The meeting was chaired by RJD national president Lalu Prasad, who proposed a national council meeting and the party’s open session on Saturday.

While chairing the meeting, Mr. Prasad said that the people of Bihar are in a mood for change. In a post on X earlier in the day, he said, “The sanghis have brought the country’s democracy to such a stage where citizens are struggling to protect their right to vote, and attempts are being made by the government to snatch away their voting rights. The Election Commission is hatching conspiracies to deprive voters of their right to vote. The EC is discouraging voters and subjecting them to mental, economic, and social harassment. Instead of verifying votes, it is asking citizens to prove their citizenship. It is not even accepting the Aadhaar card issued by the Government of India. We will not let their hooliganism prevail.”

Even NDA alliance partner and Rashtriya Lok Morcha leader Upendra Kushwaha raised concerns over the short time for the revision, while speaking to media in New Delhi today.