'Purification' of rolls led to smooth conduct of Bihar elections, says CEC
Points out that not a single complaint was filed challenging the inclusion or exclusion of electors during the roll revision
Sending out a message to the West Bengal Government, where the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise is being vehemently opposed and termed as an exercise to exclude a certain class of voters, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday highlighted the success of the recently held Assembly elections in Bihar after the purification of rolls there.
Without using the term SIR during his inaugural address at the Indian International Conference on Democracy & Election Management-2026 (IICDEM-2026), he said that the purification of rolls in Bihar resulted in zero appeals, despite tight public scrutiny.
Kumar also pointed out that not a single complaint was filed challenging the inclusion or exclusion of electors during the roll revision exercise in Bihar last year. Besides, not even a single repoll was ordered in the two phases of the Bihar Assembly elections in any of the one lakh polling stations, he added.
"Pure electoral roll, including each and every elector as per law, is essential to strengthen democracy and all the elections that will be held on the basis of that electoral roll," Kumar said.
Meanwhile, heads of 42 election management bodies (EMBs) took part in the plenary of the conference on the first day of the three-day event. Around 100 delegates from around 70 countries are attending the IICDEM-2026.
The CEC, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi initiated the proceedings. Nearly 60 international delegates, including heads of EMBs and ambassadors as well as high commissioners of several countries participated in the plenary.
