52,275 claims, objections filed by Bihar electors; none from political parties: ECI

New Delh: With 13 days still left for filing claims and objections, the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer’s office has received 52,275 applications directly from individual voters regarding inclusion or exclusion of names in the state’s draft electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Tuesday, adding that no political party has filed any complaint so far.

According to the poll panel, so far, 1,765 applications have been disposed of by the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). As per the rules, claims and objections are decided seven days after the verification of supporting documents is completed.

Significantly, the Commission underlined that not a single political party has submitted any complaint or objection even after 19 days of the publication of the draft rolls on August 1.

The ECI said that since August 1, as many as 1,73,016 new electors — who turned 18 after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise — have filed forms for inclusion in the voter list.

While the draft rolls were published on August 1, the Commission has provided a one-month window for individuals, parties, and their 1.6 lakh booth-level agents (BLAs) to raise objections or submit corrections. Of these, the RJD has 47,506 BLAs, the Congress 17,549, and Left parties over 2,000, together accounting for more than 67,000.

The Commission said it has been regularly urging political parties to participate actively in the revision exercise and report any cases of disenfranchisement.

“Submit your claims and objections to rectify any errors in the draft electoral roll of Bihar published on August 1. So far, not even a single claim or objection has been submitted by any political party,” the EC said in a statement.

The ECI also highlighted that between June 23 and July 25, during the BLA revision drive, the Congress raised its tally by 105 per cent to 17,549; the RJD marginally by 1 per cent to 47,506; the JD(U) by 31 per cent to 36,550; and the BJP by 3 per cent to 53,338.

During the enumeration phase of the SIR held from June 24 to July 25, more than 7.24 crore electors — out of a total of 7.89 crore — submitted their details. The draft rolls, however, showed about 65 lakh voters missing.

These included 22 lakh deceased (2.83 per cent), 36 lakh (4.59 per cent) who had permanently shifted or could not be traced, and seven lakh (0.89 per cent) found enrolled in more than one place, the ECI data revealed.

–IANS