The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Tuesday, 30 September, published the final voter list for Bihar after the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the state. The poll body has struck off nearly 68.5 lakh names from the list which now has a total of 7.42 crore electors.
As on 24 June, before the SIR exercise began, Bihar had 7.89 crore electors.
The SIR, carried out over a period of three months, was widely criticised for being abrupt, arbitrary, and rushed.
While the Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the exercise, the poll body on Tuesday said, "SIR exercise was carried out in line with Article 326 of Constitution & ECI’s motto of no eligible voter to be left out, and no ineligible person to be included in the Electoral rolls."
Earlier, 65 lakh voters had been removed from the draft electoral rolls, including those who had died, permanently moved out of Bihar, or were registered as voters in multiple locations.
In the final rolls the number of voters has gone up by 18 lakh compared to the draft list, which was put out on 1 August.