While deletions from an electoral roll are quite normal at the time of revisions - thousands of them in fact - they have almost always been on account of three key reasons: death of an elector which was not reported; an elector shifting residence permanently or a "repeat" elector registering as a voter in another constituency while failing to delete name from previous one where he resided. In fact, in 2019, the ECI told Parliament that there were hardly any cases of "foreign nationals" on electoral rolls over the last few years. Only three cases came up in 2018.
The numbers are set to change with Bihar.
Focus on citizenship
In probably a rare case, the ECI has indicated presence of a "large number" of foreign nationals in a poll-bound state. These numbers have been very few, say insiders, except in the case of Assam which went through a legally monitored system over illegal immigrant influx, even creating a debatable 'doubtful' voter list. Factor the July 10, 2019, reply by ECI to a Parliament question on whether there are "cases of inclusion of names of foreign nationals in voters list during the last three years and current year" and was any action taken. The law ministry, in its reply, said ECI had informed that "no such case has come to its notice in 2016, 2017 and 2019". There were just three such complaints received in 2018: one each from Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat.
The ECI said that whenever such complaints are received, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in the concerned states/UTs take suitable action to investigate the matter. Their EPIC cards are also then confiscated. "There are very few complaints on citizenship across various types of electoral revisions and most of them would refer to 1-2 individuals. Never have we got complaints of a large number of foreign nationals making it to the electoral roll. Most claims and objections, during revision, in fact are due to deaths and shifting," a former CEC told ET.
Even when one considers the recent revisions of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, this bears out.
Bihar SSR 2025- Seemanchal
In Bihar, it is the four districts in Seemanchal - areas bordering Nepal and Bangladesh - that are expected to be under major focus: Kishanganj, Araria, Purnea and Katihar. Even here, the most recent 'list of claims and objections during Special Summary Revision-2025' in Bihar's Kishanganj shows hundreds of deletions on account of 'death', 'permanently shifted' or the elector found 'absent'. The same is the case with the list for Purne and Supaul where you find similar deletions besides the elector being 'already enrolled' elsewhere.
No other reasons such as citizenship or document unavailability have been cited in the SSR for deletion of an elector's name.
The numbers are set to change with Bihar.
Focus on citizenship
In probably a rare case, the ECI has indicated presence of a "large number" of foreign nationals in a poll-bound state. These numbers have been very few, say insiders, except in the case of Assam which went through a legally monitored system over illegal immigrant influx, even creating a debatable 'doubtful' voter list. Factor the July 10, 2019, reply by ECI to a Parliament question on whether there are "cases of inclusion of names of foreign nationals in voters list during the last three years and current year" and was any action taken. The law ministry, in its reply, said ECI had informed that "no such case has come to its notice in 2016, 2017 and 2019". There were just three such complaints received in 2018: one each from Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat.
Even when one considers the recent revisions of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, this bears out.
Bihar SSR 2025- Seemanchal
In Bihar, it is the four districts in Seemanchal - areas bordering Nepal and Bangladesh - that are expected to be under major focus: Kishanganj, Araria, Purnea and Katihar. Even here, the most recent 'list of claims and objections during Special Summary Revision-2025' in Bihar's Kishanganj shows hundreds of deletions on account of 'death', 'permanently shifted' or the elector found 'absent'. The same is the case with the list for Purne and Supaul where you find similar deletions besides the elector being 'already enrolled' elsewhere.
No other reasons such as citizenship or document unavailability have been cited in the SSR for deletion of an elector's name.
