The Election Commission on Monday said that 83.66% voters in Bihar have submitted their enumeration forms as part of the ongoing special intensive revision of the state’s electoral rolls.

The poll panel said that 1.59% electors have died, 2.2% permanently shifted and 0.73% persons were found to be enrolled at more than one place.

“Therefore, 88.18% of electors have either already submitted their EF [enumeration form] or died or retained their names at one place or permanently shifted out of their previous place of residence,” it added.

The Election Commission said that 11.82% electors now remain to submit their enumeration forms, adding that many of them have sought time to submit them with the necessary documents in the coming days.

Over 5.74 crore have already been uploaded on the ECINET mobile application, added the poll panel.

The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility to vote. This means that 2.9 crore out of the state’s 7.8 crore voters – or about 37% of the electors – have to submit documentary evidence.

Voters born before July 1, 1987, must show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents. Those born after December 2, 2004, will need proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents.

If the officers are satisfied with the details provided, the voters will be re-enrolled to a new voter list by electoral registration officers. If not, they will be removed from the voter lists.

A draft roll will be published on August 1 and the final roll will be out on September 30. Bihar is expected to head for Assembly polls in October or November.

On July 2, eleven INDIA bloc parties told the Election Commission that the special intensive revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls risked disenfranchising more than 2.5 crore voters, as they may not be able to produce the necessary documents.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on July 6 defended the exercise, claiming that the exercise had to be carried out as no one was satisfied with the current voter rolls.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court urged the Election Commission to consider Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards and ration cards as valid documents for the revision of electoral rolls. The court will hear the case further on July 28.

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