The Election Commission’s announcement of the Bihar Assembly elections for the 243 constituencies on November 6 and 11, with counting scheduled for November 14, sets the stage for an interesting political battle.
Elections in Bihar are important beyond the state as their outcome can influence national politics and trends in other poll-bound states. However, the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has triggered more doubts than confidence. The Supreme Court has rightly observed that the additions and deletions have caused confusion.
Therefore, the ECI needs to clarify this to allay the concerns of political parties and other stakeholders. Among the voters newly added, how many are those whose names were removed earlier and the grounds in both cases? Also, what were the reasons for the exclusion of voters from the final list?
Because of the court’s intervention, the SIR has seen a degree of transparency, especially when the list of 6.5 million deleted names was made public after an initial delay by the poll panel. Nonetheless, the Bihar exercise has not been flawless. The ECI must address all the shortcomings before it initiates a pan-India SIR.
