Major relief to voters, EC makes big decision on documents ahead of Assembly elections in Bihar

Amid the uproar over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Bihar Chief Electoral Office made a big announcement in the form of advertisement asserting that voters can get verified in the electoral rolls even without submitting the mandatory documents.

“If you (read voters) provide the required documents, it will be easier for the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) to process the application. If you are unable to provide the required documents, the ERO can take a decision on the basis of local investigation or other documentary evidence,” the Election Commission (EC) said in the advertisement published on front pages of all the local newspapers of Bihar on Sunday (July 6, 2025).

This is for the first time that such a decision has been taken after continuous questioning by the Opposition leaders.

Bihar Chief Electoral Office made a big announcement in the form of advertisement asserting that voters can get verified in the electoral rolls even without submitting the mandatory documents. Credit: ECI

In the advertisement an appeal has been made to the voters that as soon as they receive the enumeration forms form from the BLO, fill it immediately and provide it to the BLO along with the necessary documents and photo.

Then in the next line it added, If the necessary documents and photo are not available, then just fill the form and provide it to the BLO.

Aadhaar card, PAN card, MGNREGA job card, voter identity card, driving licence, and bank passbook are unfortunately not acceptable for the SIR process.

The 11 documents being accepted are include birth certificates, passports, education certificates, permanent residence, forest rights, and caste certificates, the family register prepared by State and local authorities, land or house allotment certificates issued by the government, as well as documents issued to government employees or pensioners, and other documents issued by a range of public authorities before 1967.

A source in the office of Bihar CEO said that the 11 documents which were asked earlier still exist and voters should not get confused.

“The EC has made some changes keeping the problems being faced by the voters to furnish the documents and that’s the reason ERO will take the final call after physical verification of the voters. At least the voters should fill the form even without the photo and require the document and submit it to the BLO, “ an official told The Hindu.

On Friday (July 4, 2025) a delegation of INDIA bloc leaders headed by Tejashwi Yadav met Bihar Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vinod Singh Gunjiyal to raise the objection over the SIR.

The INDIA bloc leaders had termed the SIR impractical and anti-democratic. Along with this, it demanded recognition of Aadhar card, ration card and MGNREGA card to add in the list of key documents for the verification and revision of the voter list.

As per the data till 7:00 p.m., on Saturday (July 5, 2025), a total of 1,12,01,674 enumeration forms have been collected in Bihar, which is 14.18% of the total number of potential voters.

In addition, the total number of enumeration forms uploaded was 23,90,329, out of which 23,14,602 forms were uploaded through BLOs, while 75,789 forms were uploaded by general voters through online mode.

Mr. Gunjiyal has appealed that all the voters of Bihar should actively participate in the SIR and fill the counting form through offline and online mediums so that no eligible voter is left out.