Bihar: EC’s ‘veil of secrecy’ emerges as key flaw in voter list revision

The ongoing revision of electoral rolls in Bihar began with an anomaly, largely because it was kept under wraps until just 24 hours before its launch on June 25.

Preparations for this must have been initiated by the Election Commission of India days or even weeks before it was officially announced on June 24. Yet, the primary stakeholders, the electors, were kept in the dark, along with political parties and candidates who expected to contest the elections. None were informed about what was in the pipeline.

Advantage ruling alliance

However, it would be inaccurate to say that everyone was completely unaware. Over 80 million voter verification forms had to be printed ahead of the June 24 announcement by the Election Commission (EC), which launched the drive the very next morning. Printing of forms at such a massive scale would have taken several days, as would their transportation to different parts of Bihar.

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Besides this, distributing the forms to government staff tasked with delivering them to every household in Bihar would have required even more time. These personnel also needed to be trained for the month-long exercise, running from June 25 to July 25. As part of their duty, they are required to visit each voter twice, first to hand over the blank forms and later to collect them once filled. Immediate submission is unlikely in most cases, as voters are expected to attach supporting documents with the form.

All these steps by Block Level Officers (BLOs) or their equivalents visiting voters had to be planned well in advance. This is especially true given that the Election Commission lacks a dedicated workforce for such rare, large-scale exercises to revise, authenticate, and update electoral rolls, and instead relies on government staff. Therefore, it is unlikely that the government, and by extension, the BJP, which is part of the ruling alliance both in Bihar and at the Centre, was unaware of the EC’s plans well before its political rivals.

RJD, Congress slam EC

This highlights the core issue that different sets of political parties appear to have been treated unequally from the very start of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. The contrast between the reactions of the Opposition parties and those of the ruling alliance to the Election Commission’s move is equally striking.

Opposition parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and the Left, have strongly condemned the Election Commission’s move. In contrast, the BJP and Janata Dal (United), which hold power both in Bihar and at the Centre, have either remained silent or expressed support for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), set to take place ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections expected in November, following the publication of the revised electoral rolls.

An EC press release issued on June 24 evening said, “While all efforts shall be made by the Election Commission of India that the revision process is carried out in a smooth manner causing minimum inconvenience to the electors, ECI shall be seeking active involvement of all political parties in the process by appointing their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) in all polling booths. The active participation of BLAs would ensure that discrepancies, if any, are resolved at the preparation stage itself, thereby reducing the instances of filing claims, objections and appeals. It may be underscored that both the electors and the political parties are the most important stakeholders in any electoral process, and it is only with their full participation that an exercise of such magnitude can be conducted smoothly and successfully.”

Tough times for Opposition

The Election Commission’s advisory to political parties could likely have been anticipated, understood, and acted upon much earlier by the ruling alliance than their rivals in the Opposition alliance. From the time voter verification forms for the SIR were being printed and transported, to the selection and training of government staff for the massive exercise, details of the process would have inadvertently come to the knowledge of the ruling parties in Bihar and at the Centre well before the Opposition was made aware.

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Therefore, the manner in which the Election Commission has launched and is conducting the SIR in the state appears far from impartial from the perspective of the Opposition gearing up to challenge Bihar’s two-decade-long ruling alliance in a few months.