65 Lakh Names Deleted, But Dead Voters Remain: Bihar's SIR Puts EC Under Scanner

Bihar’s SIR claimed to clean voter rolls but left lakhs scrambling for papers and eroded trust in the ECI.

Dead voters, missing votes, and ghost entries, Bihar’s voter purge raises BIG questions for the EC.

(Photo: The Quint/Kamran Akhter)

In Bihar, the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has removed 65 lakh names from voter rolls. The EC says these were 22 lakh deceased, 36 lakh migrated/untraceable, and 7 lakh duplicate voters. But on the ground, the purge looks far messier.

In Nalanda, migrant worker Mukesh Paswan rushed home from Hyderabad after his family warned that his name would be deleted without fresh documents. “First they took my Aadhaar, now they say it’s invalid. Why the haste? I spent ₹7,500 to come back, they could have told me earlier,” he says. In Sitamarhi, families say BLOs asked only for Aadhaar, which the EC itself told the Supreme Court cannot be used as standalone proof of citizenship.

The EC hasn’t published the reasons linked to each deletion or shared EPIC numbers in the public domain. Even political parties lack this granular data, making it impossible for voters to verify if their deletion was justified.

Questions the Election Commission Must Answer

The EC says SIR in Bihar removed 65 lakh names

• 22 lakh deceased

• 36 lakh permanently migrated or “untraceable”

• 7 lakh holding duplicate voter IDs

Sounds neat on paper. But here’s what doesn’t add up:

1. How will people know they’ve been deleted?
   The EC hasn’t put the detailed list in the public domain. No searchable database, no public notice with EPIC numbers, just a mystery cut-off. Why?

2. Why hide the reasons for deletion?
   The EC says they know if a voter was removed for being deceased, migrated, untraceable, or a duplicate. Then why not publish that along with the names? What’s the secrecy about?

3. Why different access for different groups?

   • Draft roll without photos: Public can see

   • Draft roll with photos: Only political parties get it

   • List of deleted names: Not shared publicly
     If democracy is for the people, why are voters the last to know if they’ve been deleted?

4. What about wrongful deletions?
   If a living, eligible voter is cut from the list and doesn’t even know why, how are they supposed to contest it before the elections?

The credibility crisis isn’t limited to Bihar. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, EVM vote mismatches emerged:

• Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu — 14,30,738 votes cast, 14,13,947 counted (16,791 missing)

• Karimganj, Assam — 11,36,538 votes cast, 11,40,349 counted (3,811 extra)

Similar anomalies surfaced in 2019, when The Quint’s investigation found votes counted exceeding votes cast in multiple seats. Yet the EC destroyed VVPAT slips within four months, despite the law requiring a one-year preservation.

From dead people “signing” forms to unexplained vote count discrepancies and selective rule enforcement, the EC’s opacity risks eroding faith in India’s democracy. Transparency in deletions, timely release of voter data, and impartial enforcement of election laws are not optional- they are the foundation of free and fair elections.