Roll Call or Roll Purge?

A sweeping revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls has spooked fears of disenfranchising the marginalised while igniting a political firestorm before elections.

Bihar

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has embarked on what it describes as a “special intensive revision” (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the first of six states slated for scrutiny. The exercise, ostensibly designed to weed out foreign illegal migrants and ensure that only bona fide Indian citizens remain on the voter list, has rapidly morphed into a political powder keg. With state elections due by year’s end, opposition parties accuse the poll body of complicity in what they allege is a pre-election purge of voters likely to favour their alliance. The ECI insists it is merely fulfilling its constitutional mandate.

Electoral rolls, like all living documents, require periodic pruning to remain credible by removing the deceased, accounting for migrations and plugging loopholes through which ineligible voters, including foreign nationals, may sneak in. Bihar, sharing a porous border with Nepal and home to millions of seasonal migrants, offers ample justification for vigilance.

What has drawn fire is not the rationale but the rollout. Critics point to the fact that the last such intensive revision in Bihar was carried out in 2003, well before the 20024 general election and the state elections in 2005, thus giving citizens ample time to appeal deletions or contest exclusions. This time, the SIR is being launched just months before a closely fought election.

The government’s defence rests on constitutional grounds. Article 326 stipulates that only Indian citizens can vote. That principle is not up for debate. Yet the spectre haunting Bihar is not legality but selective disenfranchisement. Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien accused the EC of “bringing in the NRC through the back door,” likening the current process to Nazi-era racial documentation. Allusions to fascism may be hyperbolic, but the sense of déjà vu is hard to ignore. India has, in recent years, witnessed the explosive political consequences of attempts to prove citizenship on paper. The botched implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam left millions in limbo, many of them impoverished and lacking formal documentation.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi also expressed concern, noting that Bihar’s electoral rolls already underwent a Special Summary Revision earlier this year. He warned that the current exercise risks becoming another instrument of exclusion, especially as it now hinges on the 2003 electoral roll as the base document.

There are, undeniably, real risks of manipulation in border regions like Bihar, where porous frontiers make it easy for non-citizens to blend in. But conflating national security with voter roll verification, particularly so close to elections, risks undermining democratic credibility. According to legal experts, the EC is within its rights to conduct such a revision. What is in question is the proportionality and intent behind the timing.

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) comprised of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party—has dismissed allegations of foul play. Yet the optics do not favour the incumbents. In a state where caste arithmetic, minority votes, and migrant populations heavily influence the outcome, even a marginal recalibration of the voter base can tip the scales.

The Election Commission was once regarded as a paragon of electoral integrity in a tumultuous democracy. Now, it is accused of moving in lockstep with the ruling dispensation’s political imperatives.

If the objective is to ensure clean, credible elections, where transparency must be paramount. The EC should clearly publish the methodology, safeguards, and grievance redressal mechanisms attached to the SIR. It must also allow adequate time for citizens to prove their eligibility - not just technically, but practically, given the constraints of rural documentation and seasonal migration.

Democracies falter not just when the rules are broken, but when the rules are bent just enough to serve partisan ends. Bihar’s voter list must reflect the will of the people, not the anxieties of the powerful.