The Election Commission has finalized Bihar’s voter list after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Bihar now has 7.3 crore voters, with 13 lakh new names added. The final list will be published on September 30, just before the Assembly elections.
Reports say more than 90% of claims and objections were settled before the deadline. The new voter list includes 1 million first-time voters aged 18, and nearly 5 lakh voters above 25 who registered for the first time. This unusual rise suggests many names were missed earlier.
In the draft list, 6.5 million names were cut—2.2 million of them deceased. Others were removed for reasons like shifting, not submitting forms, or being absent from addresses. These mass deletions have been challenged in the Supreme Court.
The final number of voters will be clear after September 30. However, this list is already larger than the draft (72.4 million) but smaller than January 2025’s figure of 78 million. Bihar’s political parties are watching closely, as these voter shifts could impact the upcoming elections.
