EC mulls house-to-house verification amid data manipulation allegations

Seeking to ensure greater accuracy in electoral rolls in Bihar where Assembly polls are due later this year, the Election Commission is mulling intensive house-to-house verification during the revision of the voter list in the state.

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Officials pointed out on Sunday that concerns have been raised by various civil society organisations, political parties and others persistently over the inclusion or deletion of names in the electoral rolls.

Several parties, including the Congress, have accused the poll authority of fudging data to help the BJP.

Officials lamented that despite following a detailed protocol, insinuations and allegations are often made against the EC of arbitrarily inflating the electoral roll, even though the exercise is conducted with complete transparency and under constant scrutiny of political parties.

To make the system robust and free of any kind of errors, the poll panel is contemplating an intensive house-to-house verification during the upcoming electoral roll revision before Bihar Assembly polls to "purify" the electoral rolls, sources said.

Such intensive and rigorous revision of the electoral rolls has been done in the past as well with the last such exercise undertaken in 2004, they pointed out.

The regular exercise of revision of electoral rolls is undertaken annually throughout the country by the EC and also before the holding of elections or bypolls.

The provisions regarding eligibility to be registered as a voter and disqualification are clearly laid down in Article 326 of the Constitution and Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 respectively, they said.

The voter list is revised regularly due to deaths and inclusion of new voters. Inter-state and intra-state movement of voters is another key reason why rolls need updation.

For instance, during 2024, according to the forms received by the EC, 46.26 lakh people shifted their residence, 2.32 crore applied for corrections and 33.16 lakh requested for replacement.

Thus, in a single year, nearly 3.15 crore changes were required to be made across the country.