Mainstream WeeklyThe Election Commission of India has launched a sweeping Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. Though presented as a legitimate administrative effort to update voter data ahead of the Assembly elections, the move has attracted sharp social criticism and legal challenges. The Commission has initiated door-to-door verification of voter records across the state, demanding submission of multiple documents including personal and parental proof of age and residence, particularly for those born after 2003. While the stated purpose is to remove inaccuracies and eliminate ineligible voters, the exercise stands out for its timing, intensity and severe implications for already vulnerable populations.
Opposition parties, civil rights groups and constitutional experts have raised serious concerns. Bihar has one of the highest concentrations of working people and marginalised communities in the country, many of whom are under-documented and live in conditions that make it impossible to maintain consistent paper trails. For migrant workers, Dalits, Adivasis and the rural poor, furnishing documents that prove not just their own eligibility but that of their parents within a month