SIR process nears completion in Bihar; 98.2% voters submit documents

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process going on in Bihar is in its final stage. The period for submitting claims, objections and documents is going on from 1 August to 1 September, which still has 8 days left to end. On Sunday, the Commission informed that Bihar's SIR is on schedule. All the claims and objections received will be settled by 25 September. After scrutiny, the final voter list will be published on 30 September.

The Election Commission said in a press release that so far 98.2 percent of voters have submitted their documents. The Commission has praised all the officials and BLOs as well as lakhs of volunteers involved in the SIR process in Bihar.

According to the Commission, apart from the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar, the process was attended by District Election Officers of 38 districts, 243 Electoral Registration Officers, 2,976 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, 90,712 Booth Level Officers (BLOs), lakhs of volunteers and regional representatives of all 12 major political parties, including their district presidents and 1.60 lakh BLOs.

The Election Commission says that the period of claims and objections provides voters an opportunity to correct errors in the draft electoral roll and submit the necessary documents which were not submitted while filling the nomination form. According to information received from the CEO office of Bihar, documents of 98.2 percent of voters have been received so far.

The Commission said in a press release that between June 24 and August 24, in just 60 days, on an average, 1.64 percent of voters submitted their documents per day. There are still 8 days left and only 1.8 percent of voters' documents are yet to be submitted. The Commission expressed hope that with the help of BLOs and volunteers, the documentation work of the remaining voters will also be completed before the stipulated time.

In accordance with the SIR orders dated June 24, verification of documents is also being done simultaneously by the concerned 243 EROs and 2,976 AEROs.

According to the release, the Commission has so far received 0.16 percent claims and objections out of 7.24 crore voters included in the draft list. 10 claims and objections have been received from BLAs of 12 recognized political parties of Bihar, while 1,21,143 claims and objections have been received from voters belonging to their assembly constituencies. No claim has been submitted by any person from outside the constituency.

3,28,847 new voters, who have attained the age of 18 years or above on July 1 or will attain the age of 18 years or above on October 1, have also submitted their Form 6 and declaration form.

Let us tell you that before the assembly elections in Bihar, the Election Commission took steps towards correcting the voter list through SIR. The intensive nomination process was completed from 24 June to 25 July. After this, the Election Commission released the draft voter list on 1 August.