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New Delhi: The Election Commission on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that none of the affected or deleted voters have approached the court on the Special
Intensive Revision (SIR) or filed appeal and only politicians and NGO sitting in Delhi are raising the issue. The poll body during a hearing in the top court on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) said that the final electoral list in Bihar has been notified and most of the names added to the final list are of new voters and a few old voters. The Election Commission had published the final electoral roll for the Bihar assembly elections following the completion of the SIR.
"SIR (in Bihar) was done in a transparent manner. The SC directed the inclusion of the Aadhaar Card as the 12th document as proof of identification, but it will not serve as proof of citizenship. Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act states that the Aadhaar Card is neither proof of citizenship nor Domicile. Before 2023, many SC judgments stated that Aadhaar is not proof of date of birth. According to SC decisions and the Aadhaar Act, the Aadhaar Card is the sole proof of identity. Article 326 of the Constitution states that a voter must be at least 18 years old, a citizen of the country, and reside near the respective polling station. ECI has abided by the SC direction," the poll body had said this earlier.
Referring to SIR, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said that electors of Bihar "fully participated in the purification of the voter list in the state."
"After 22 years, the purification of voters' list was concluded in Bihar on September 30, 2025. Purification of electoral roll in Bihar to ensure no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible person is included," he said.
Kumar said ECI has already taken a decision to conduct SIR throughout the country and asked the voters to check and verify their names in the electoral list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ0siGbMKtI
EC Announces Bihar Polling Dates, New Initiatives For Ease of Elections Bihar elections will be held in 243 assembly seats in Bihar in two phases on November 6 and November 11 with counting of votes to be held on November 14. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) informed that there are 14 lakh first-time voters and over 90,000 polling stations that will be set up for next month's assembly polls to facilitate smooth voting. He said 7.42 crore voters (3.92 crore men and 3.5 crore women) are eligible to exercise their franchise. There are a total of 7.42 crore voters in Bihar, of which 3.92 crore are males and 3.5 crore are women. There are 14 lakh first-time voters and 4 lakh senior citizen voters (above 85 years), CEC said. At least 14,000 voters in the state are aged above 100 years. A total of 90,712 polling stations are being set up in Bihar, he added.
- Kumar announced that Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will be deployed in advance across sensitive areas as a confidence-building measure. He directed all election officials to act in an "absolutely impartial" manner.
- The CEC also emphasised the importance of countering misinformation during the election period. "If there is any fake news or misinformation on any medium or platform, it will be countered," Kumar said, underlining the Commission's focus on maintaining the integrity of electoral discourse.
- Strict vigil will be maintained at all checkpoints to prevent the transaction of drugs, liquor and cash, EC said.
- It also informed that over 90,000 polling stations, 1,044 of those will be managed by women.
- Mobile phone deposit facility will be available at polling stations... Serial and part numbers will be displayed prominently for easier voter verification.
- He said EC had different apps and implementation of the ECINET app, terming it as the "mother of all apps" with the Bihar polls. A Election Commission release said that all critical events will be video-graphed.
- District Election Officers will arrange sufficient number of video and digital cameras and camera teams for the purpose
- The events for videography will include filing of nomination papers and scrutiny thereof, allotment of symbols, First Level Checking, preparations and storage of Electronic Voting Machines, important public meetings, processions, during election campaign, process of dispatching of postal ballot papers, polling process in identified vulnerable polling stations, storage of polled EVMs and VVPATs, counting of votes etc, EC said.
- It said the Commission has issued instructions for Webcasting in all polling stations of Bihar for the purpose of monitoring of the poll process.
EC on Why Elections Were Not Scheduled Around Chhath Puja
The Election Commission while announcing the polling schedule for Bihar on Monday addressed this issue that the political parties wanted the polling dates around the Chhath puja.
Responding why the polls were not scheduled around these dates, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said, "Chhath Puja is on 28th October. All political parties had said that elections should be scheduled around this time. However, if you look at the specified duration needed after the issue of the notification of polls, elections could not have been held before the date announced.
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