EC says 99.8 per cent electors covered
New Delhi: The Election Commission said 99.8 per cent Bihar electors have been covered so far in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR). Forms of 7.23-crore electors have been received and digitised and names of all these electors will be included in the draft electoral roll, the EC officials said. The digitisation of forms, along with BLO reports, of the remaining electors will also be completed by August 1.
The EC has said that since the exercise began, names of approximately 22 lakh deceased electors have been reported by the BLOs and about 7-lakh electors were found registered in more than one location. It added that approximately 35-lakh electors have either permanently migrated or could not be traced. Enumeration forms of approximately 1.2-lakh electors are yet to be received.
The lists of those electors who have not filled the forms or are deceased and those who have permanently migrated have already been shared on July 20 with all 12 political parties, the BSP, BJP, CPM, Congress, RJD, JD(U), RLSP, CPI(ML-Liberation), RLJP, LJP (RV), NPP, AAP, so that any errors can be rectified in the draft electoral roll, officials said.
Amid the chaos, confusion and controversy surrounding the SIR in Bihar, political parties have hurriedly increased the number of booth level agents (BLA) in the last month to keep an eye on the activities of the Election Commission officials and stay vigilant on the "wrongful addition and deletion" of electors in the new voter list being prepared in the state. The first draft electoral roll for Bihar will be published on August 1.
The Opposition parties have nearly doubled the number of BLAs in the state to verify the additions and deletions made by the EC’s booth level officers (BLOs) deployed at 77,895 polling booths. The increase of the local political agents (BLAs) is highest in the Congress, Left and the BSP compared to the BJP and the RJD. Overall there has been an increase of 16 per cent in the number of BLAs from about 1.39 lakh before June 2025 to 1.61 lakh in the last month.
The Congress that had appointed 8,586 BLAs before the SIR activities began in June has more than doubled the numbers in the last month increasing numbers from 8,586 to 17,549, a 105 per cent increase, to stay vigilant. The CPM increased BLA from 76 to 899, which is an increase of 1,083 per cent. The other Left party, the CPI(ML), too, upped the number of BLAs from 233 to 1,496 (542 per cent increase).
Compared to this, the BJP, which had already appointed a substantial number of BLAs before June, increased its agents marginally from 51,964 to 53,338 (about 3 per cent). The RJD increased BLAs by one per cent, up from 47,143 to 47,506. The RJD is in alliance with the Congress in Bihar and the two have an understanding on seats; hence, they have divided their BLAs duties accordingly.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) too has increased the party's BLAs from 27,931 to 36,550 (31 per cent), while the BSP has increased from 26 to 74 (185 per cent). The RLJP and the LJP(RV), which were united in previous Assembly elections, have made an increase of about 27 per cent in BLAs. They, together, had 2,457 BLAs and now have 1,913 and 1,210, respectively, after parting ways.
The AAP, going solo in Bihar polls for the first time, has appointed only one BLA, and P.A. Sangma’s National People’s Party has appointed 7.
