ECI Blocks Transparency: Secret Lists and Missing Records in Bihar SIR

Name: ECI Blocks Transparency: Secret Lists and Missing Records in Bihar SIR - The Wire
Uploaded: 2025-08-13T14:23:30+05:30
Channel: The Wire
Description: The ECI's resistance to transparency makes it impossible for parties and people to verify whether the deletions are justified or if eligible voters have been disenfranchised.

The ECI's resistance to transparency makes it impossible for parties and people to verify whether the deletions are justified or if eligible voters have been disenfranchised.

Amrita Johri

Anjali Bhardwaj

The ECI's resistance to transparency makes it impossible for parties and people to verify whether the deletions are justified or if eligible voters have been disenfranchised.

eci blocks transparency secret lists and missing records in bihar sir

Why is the Election Commission of India (ECI) withholding crucial documents and data on the voter list Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar? The ECI’s lack of transparency is eroding public trust in the institution.

Bihar's SIR entails the verification of all eight crore voters in the state. Yet the ECI is refusing to disclose crucial information and data on this drastic exercise which has far reaching consequences. The ECI is facing serious questions about missing guidelines, secret voter lists, and withheld data — all in the middle of a massive voter list cleanup that could affect millions and even impact election outcomes in constituencies.

We discuss how the decision to carry out the SIR was taken in complete secrecy, with no prior public information or consultation with people or political parties. Crucial documents which justify this mammoth verification of voter lists, wherein every person has to prove their citizenship and eligibility to vote, are not being made public by the ECI. After the first phase of the SIR, 65 lakh voters who were on the electoral rolls earlier, have been removed- but where is the list of those marked dead, permanently shifted, not found? The ECI's resistance to transparency makes it impossible for parties and people to verify whether the deletions are justified or if eligible voters have been disenfranchised.

Has the ECI ever undertaken a country-wide verification of documents to check citizenship status of all voters? With the SIR now set to be expanded to the whole country, we unpack what the secrecy around the SIR means for voter rights, electoral integrity, trust in the ECI and the future of free and fair elections in India.

Understand how this revision of voter lists happening behind a veil of secrecy could affect your right to vote and elections in the country – and why demanding transparency now is crucial. Ashok Lavasa, former Election Commissioner, joins Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri on this edition of Jaanne Bhi Do Yaaro.

This article went live on August thirteenth, two thousand twenty five, at twenty-three minutes past two in the afternoon.

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