Bihar: ECI uploads 2003 Electoral Roll on website for transparency

The Election Commission of India has uploaded the 2003 Electoral Roll of Bihar, comprising details of 4.96 crore electors, on the ECI website as a measure to facilitate the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), said an official on Monday.

Highlighting that nearly 60 per cent of the total electorate in the state would not have to submit any documents, the official said in a statement that these voters can verify their details from the 2003 Electoral Rolls and submit the filled-up Enumeration Form.

Both the electors as well the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would be able to readily access these details, he said.

The uploading of the 2003 Electoral Roll on the ECI website - https://voters.eci.gov.in - would hugely facilitate the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, said the statement.

Referring to ECI instructions dated June 24, the official said that it had been mentioned that the CEO/DEO/ERO shall make the Electoral Rolls with qualifying date of January 1, 2003 freely available to all BLOs in hard copy, as well as, online on their website for anyone to download and use as documentary evidence while submitting their Enumeration Form.

The ECI clarified that anyone whose name is not there in the 2003 Bihar Electoral Roll can still use the extract of the 2003 Electoral Roll rather than providing any other documents for his/her mother or father.

"In such cases, no other document would be required for his/her mother or father. Only the relevant extract/details of the 2003 Electoral Roll would be sufficient. Such electors would have to submit the documents, only for themselves, along with the filled-up Enumeration Form," said the statement.

The ECI reiterated that before every election, revision of the Electoral Roll is mandatory as per section 21(2)(a) of the Representation of People Act 1950 and Rule 25 of the Registration of Elector Rules 1960.

The ECI has been conducting annual revisions, intensive as well as summary, for 75 years till now.

This exercise is required as the Electoral Roll is always a dynamic list which keeps changing due to deaths, shifting of people due to various reasons such as migration due to occupation/education/marriage and addition of new voters who have turned 18.

The statement said that Article 326 of the Constitution specifies the eligibility to become an elector. Only Indian citizens above 18 years and ordinary residents in that constituency are eligible to be registered as electors.