ECI Finds Foreign Nationals With Indian Documents During Bihar Voters’ List Revision Drive

Last Updated:July 13, 2025, 12:16 IST

Bihar electoral roll Special Intensive Revision (SIR): Sources said that a thorough verification will be carried out between August 1 and 30

As part of the drive, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has established direct contact with nearly all voters in Bihar. (News18 File)

The Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have found a significant number of individuals from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar possessing Indian documents such as Aadhaar, domicile certificates, and ration cards during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, sources said.

As part of the drive, the ECI has established direct contact with nearly all voters in Bihar.

Sources said that a thorough verification will be carried out between August 1 and 30, and any names found ineligible will be excluded from the final voter list set to be published on September 30. “During house-to-house visits for SIR in Bihar, a large number of people from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been found by BLOs. These persons have been able to procure all documents including Aadhaar, domicile certificate, ration card," they said.

While announcing the SIR process, the ECI had said that it was necessary due to a number of reasons, including inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants in the current list.

The issue of inclusion of foreigners in the voter list has been raised by a number of political parties.

In the Delhi assembly elections, held earlier this year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of “patronising" illegal Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants in the national capital, claiming their presence is affecting the electoral process. The AAP had accused the BJP of deleting names of “those living in unauthorised colonies". The BJP had made similar remarks for West Bengal as well.

The elections in Bihar are expected to be held by the end of the year as the term of the state assembly ends in November.

What next for Bihar SIR?

The Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will prepare the draft electoral roll by including all voters whose enumeration forms have been received before July 25. EROs who will refer cases of suspected foreign nationals to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The SIR is progressing better than the planned schedule, the poll body has claimed. “Have completed 100% printing and near completion of distribution of EFs to all electors who were found at their addresses," they said.

As of 6 pm on Saturday, over 6.32 crore enumeration forms — accounting for 80.11% of electors — had been collected. “This means four out of every five electors in Bihar have submitted the EF (enumeration forms). With this pace, the majority of EFs are likely to be collected much before July 25," the poll body has suggested.

To appear in the draft roll, expected by August 1, electors have to submit their EFs, preferably, along with eligibility documents.

In case any elector needs more time to submit the eligibility documents, he can submit them separately till August 30 – the last date of filing claims and objections.

The poll body also said that parallel digitisation of these collected forms is also underway with the BLOs having already uploaded 4.66 crore enumeration forms in ECINet – a newly developed integrated software which has subsumed all the different 40 ECI Apps that had existed earlier.

Nivedita Singh

Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has nearly seven years of experience in the news media. She tweets @nived...Read More

Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has nearly seven years of experience in the news media. She tweets @nived...

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