Intensive electoral roll revision: Bihar voters may start getting 2 pre-filled forms from tomorrow

All electors will have to submit forms, which will be pre-filled with their names, Voter ID number, constituency, address etc. For those who enrolled after 2003, age and place of birth proofs for self and parents will also be required. All existing voters will have to submit the forms and documents by July 25, failing which, the EC said, their names will be deleted from the draft roll. They will still get an opportunity to get their names into the final roll.

After the announcement Tuesday, a team of nine senior EC officials, headed by Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, visited Patna Thursday and Friday to review the arrangements. The EC team held meetings with the Chief Electoral Officer, the DCs and Electoral Registration Officers.

The process of printing nearly 16 crore forms — two each for each voter — is likely to be completed by Saturday and the BLOs will likely start distributing them from Sunday, officials said. The pre-filled forms were likely to be available on the ECI’s ECINET app for download by the electors from next week, they said.

On the reasons behind the intensive revision, the EC said Tuesday, “Various reasons such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of an intensive revision so as to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls.”