Doubtful Voters

Priyaranjan Bharti

Mithilesh Kumar works at a medicine shop. He is a resident of Raghopur in Patna, but the employment search has brought him to Katihar. His name is registered in the village’s voter list, but he does not have a residential or birth certificate. If he had passed matriculation, he would have submitted a copy of the degree, but he failed. He can get two to three days leave from the shop to get the documents made, but given the crowd in government departments right now, Mithilesh’s work will hardly be done. Another problem is that of middlemen. Certificates are not being made quickly without paying a convenience fee. Many such complaints are coming. Mithilesh has neither money nor time. He has an Aadhar card, but it is not valid for the Election Commission.

This problem is common in Bihar, which is undergoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). People are worried about getting their documents made and corrected.

Assembly elections are to be held in Bihar by the end of this year. Before this, the campaign of the Election Commission has put the voters in doubt. More than two crore people are being directly affected due to the campaign. Most of them are Dalits, poor and the population that is not educated.

According to the Election Commission, out of 7.90 crore voters of Bihar, the names of 4.96 crore are included in the voter list of 2003. They just have to fill out the form and do not need to provide any documents. The remaining 2.94 crore people, out of these, those whose parents’ name is in the 2003 voter list, also do not have to provide separate documents. But those whose parents’ or their own names are not in that list from 22 years ago they will have to provide documents along with the form.

Election Commission has released a list of 11 documents, out of which one has to be given – Birth certificate, Matriculation or Education certificate, Passport, Permanent Resident Certificate, Caste Certificate, Forest Rights Certificate, Government employee or pensioner identity card, Certificate issued by bank/post office etc., NRC (not applicable in Bihar), Service Identity Card, Land or House Registry. Aadhar card, ration card and MNREGA job card are not in this list.

The Election Commission says that the purpose of this entire campaign is to remove the names of illegal immigrants included in the voter list through fake Aadhaar, MNREGA job cards, etc. In the past years, a large number of outsiders came to the state and became voters in an illegal manner. It is alleged that various parties got their documents made in vote bank politics. The purpose of SIR is to correct the voter list.

The opposition continues to protest. Its enthusiasm has also increased due to the success and public support of the Bihar Bandh on 9 July. Despite this uproar, it is also a fact that voter awareness has increased on this pretext. People are worried about becoming voters.

When the Supreme Court has made it clear that the voter list revision will continue in Bihar, then in a way the campaign has got a firm seal. The opposition has definitely been taken by surprise by this, but the apex court also suggested recognizing Aadhaar, ration and voter card. The opposition is considering it a success and is also sending this message to the lower sections of society that the parties of the ruling coalition are using the Election Commission for their benefit.

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Frontier
Vol 58, No. 7, Aug 10 - 16, 2025