Congress opposes special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar

The Congress on Thursday (June 26, 2025) opposed the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to undertake a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of Assembly elections.

“The INC opposes the devious Special Intensive Revision exercise ordered by the EC for Bihar,” party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said in a post on X.

The empowered group of leaders and experts (EAGLE) of the Congress issued a statement saying the move would lead to “wilful exclusion of voters”.

“The special intensive revision means that the EC will visit every single household and re-enroll every eligible voter in Bihar after a verification of identity and residential documents. In simple terms, the EC wants to discard the current electoral rolls entirely and create a fresh new electoral roll for the State,” said the Congress statement

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“But SIR is a devious and dubious idea in the disguise of a solution. Lakhs of union and State government officials will now control and dictate who has correct documents and who doesn’t, who gets to vote in the coming Bihar elections, etc. This carries a huge risk of wilful exclusion of voters using the power of the State machinery,” it added.

The statement said the SIR was an “explicit admission by the EC that all is not well with India’s electoral rolls”

“Exactly what the Congress and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi have been repeatedly pointing out with evidence from Maharashtra,” the statement noted.