A political storm erupted after senior Congress leader Pawan Khera accused the Election Commission (EC) of “deliberately dismissing” an astonishing 89 lakh complaints of irregularities flagged by the party’s Booth Level Agents (BLAs) during Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Calling the development a “serious assault on democracy,” Khera alleged that the EC’s actions cast grave doubts on its intent and demanded the entire exercise be scrapped and conducted afresh. “The EC keeps getting news planted through its sources that no complaints are coming from any political party. The truth is, Congress submitted 89 lakh complaints. But when our BLAs went to lodge grievances, they were told only individuals could file objections, not political parties,” Khera charged at a press conference.
According to the Congress, nearly 65 lakh names were deleted from the electoral rolls across 90,540 booths in Bihar. The party claimed 25 lakh deletions were attributed to migration, 22 lakh to deceased voters, and nearly 10 lakh removed because they were “absent” at their registered addresses. Khera further alleged disturbing patterns:
20,368 booths where more than 100 names were deleted.
1,988 booths where over 200 names were removed.
7,613 booths where more than 70% of deleted names belonged to women.
635 booths where over 75% of deletions in the migrant category were women.
Khera also flagged instances of voters being issued duplicate EPIC cards, insisting, “We have receipts. This fact cannot be denied. There must be a door-to-door verification to restore fairness.”
The Election Commission, however, struck back with a categorical denial. The office of Bihar’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said, “Till date, no BLA authorised by any district president of the Congress in Bihar has submitted any claim or objection in the prescribed format.”
In its official statement, the CEO’s office stressed that the rolls published on August 1 are only drafts meant for public scrutiny. Alleged duplication at this stage, it argued, cannot be treated as a final error since the law provides remedies through claims, objections, and field verification.
The EC also countered Congress’s claims of “dubious duplicates,” saying demographic overlaps in rural Bihar often lead to similar names and ages. “Such similarities are not conclusive evidence of duplication. They are being carefully checked during verification,” the statement read.
