Bihar: SIR sparks nervousness and anger

Confusion, chaos and battle go away minority, migrant and marginalised voters weak throughout Bihar because the Election Fee of India (ECI) hurtles forward with the Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. “I by no means even utilized or crammed a type and but I discover it uploaded on ECI’s portal,” says Rashid. Isn’t he relieved amidst talks of disenfranchising voters from the minority group? He’s really apprehensive that simply as his type is uploaded “robotically”, it will possibly as simply be deleted.

“I’ve no proof that I submitted the shape and acquired a signed receipt from the BLO; however after I ask for the duplicate type or attempt to submit my filled-up type, I’m turned away,” he provides by the use of clarification.

Rashid had reached out to some youths, all Muslims, gathered underneath a neem tree subsequent to a dargah within the Sultanganj space of Patna. They are saying they’re volunteers serving to residents to fill kinds and submit them.

One of many younger males, a pupil of Masters of Pc Purposes, backs Rashid. “We want submitting kinds on-line as a result of we imagine it’s a lot safer than handing them over to the BLO. Nevertheless, we discover that kinds are sometimes being auto-filled from the backend or are being tampered with. We’ve got no clue who’s coming into the info,” he says. May it’s an remoted incident or technical glitch? Or is it one thing extra sinister? No one right here appears to have a believable reply.

Rashid’s expertise additionally confirms what different video journalists are reporting from the bottom. In a sequence of movies, senior journalist and YouTuber Ajit Anjum has proven BLOs filling clean kinds on the premise of revised electoral rolls revealed in January 2025. They are often seen not solely filling the kinds but in addition placing signatures on behalf of voters who appear blissfully unaware. Whereas alert voters like Rashid have been capable of catch on, most voters stay clueless.

In Rashid’s own residence, up to date types of three members of the family are uploaded with out their information, whereas two others are struggling to submit their kinds.

The Opposition for as soon as appears to be placing up a battle. The INDIA bloc is spearheading a people-led marketing campaign to forestall arbitrary exclusion of voters. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the biggest occasion within the Opposition bloc in Bihar, has rolled out a marketing campaign named ‘Matdata Bachao Abhiyan’ (save the voter marketing campaign). RJD sources say coordinators, organisers and volunteers have been assigned meeting constituencies to assist individuals and likewise monitor the SIR of electoral rolls which, as per the ECI’s orders, must be accomplished by 25 July.

A big banner exterior the RJD workplace in Patna reads, ‘RSS ke survey mein Tejashwi ki sarkar ban rahi hai, isliye BJP apne tota chunav aayog se dhandhali karwa rahi hai (an RSS survey exhibits Tejashwi’s authorities is coming to energy, so the BJP is utilizing its puppet, the Election Fee, to rig the election)’.

Contained in the RJD workplace, volunteers are busy calling up native models and district heads, urging them to step up mobilisation. “The objective,” one volunteer says, “is to achieve each booth-level voter in order that vote bandi may be stopped.” They are saying studies are pouring in from throughout Bihar about officers refusing to simply accept kinds crammed by voters — particularly in areas the place INDIA bloc events have turn into lively.

The RJD workforce claims that there’s sufficient public proof of the diabolical design of SIR. In Darbhanga, the pinnacle of the BJP district girls’s cell was caught on digicam reviewing SIR kinds inside a authorities workplace, seated beside a BLO. In Gopalganj, the district Justice of the Peace reportedly knowledgeable volunteers that kinds wouldn’t be accepted after 17 July, regardless that no such deadline has been declared formally and communicated publicly. In Ramnagar, a BDO allegedly advised RJD staff: “We’re underneath strain, so we’ve stopped taking kinds.”

Comparable complaints have come from Bagaha in West Champaran. “That is really a effectively thought-out technique to disenfranchise voters,” says Mukund Singh, a Dalit-Christian chief and in-charge on the RJD headquarters.

Not simply the RJD but in addition the Congress and the CPI(ML), the 2 different main constituents of the INDIA bloc, have arrange enrolment camps and a parallel marketing campaign to assist voters enrol as voters.

“Many Nepali-origin girls married to Indians and residing in Kishanganj and adjoining areas for many years are being excluded for failure to provide beginning certificates and land information to show their Indian citizenship,” says Tamzeed Ahmad, a Congress spokesperson and native organiser in Kishanganj, 400 km from Patna. Whereas the ECI has mentioned a separate course of could be organized for Nepali and Bangladeshi-origin residents, no such mechanism is in place on the bottom, he tells Nationwide Herald on the telephone.

The Congress has arrange a number of camps to assist individuals fill the kinds however, he admits, officers have stopped accepting filled-up kinds.

The CPI(ML) has additionally launched a Jan Abhiyan throughout the state. Scholar and youth wings of the occasion are actively helping residents with type submissions. The occasion received 16 seats within the Bihar meeting in 2021 after placing up candidates in solely 12 of the state’s 38 districts, occasion sources level out. CPI(ML) cadres, in a marketing campaign led by occasion MP Sudama Prasad, are additionally documenting the refusal of native officers to simply accept SIR kinds.

Sudhakar Singh, RJD MP from Buxar, says, “This isn’t only a political battle. It’s a battle to defend the Structure. We’ve petitioned the Supreme Courtroom, approached the ECI and now we’re on the streets — to make sure our voters usually are not disenfranchised.”

Requested if the INDIA bloc would think about boycotting the election if the SIR stays compromised, Singh replied, “We’re not escapists. We are going to battle this — inside establishments and out of doors. The individuals of Bihar worth their vote. They received’t let it’s taken away.’

With lower than per week to go earlier than the train concludes on 25 July, voters nonetheless look confused and officers confounded.

There may be palpable anger on the ECI’s refusal to take individuals into confidence. There are numerous questions however no solutions. Why is that this revision taking place now, particularly when the voter listing was already up to date in January? What has modified since January? Who will it profit — and who will lose out and the way?

Who’s managing the method? Why is there no accountability? Is that this a voter roll replace or a backdoor NRC and citizenship take a look at? Even authorities officers appear not sure.

The timing, scale and weird haste with which the train is being performed have raised eyebrows — even amongst BJP supporters. A number of sections of the Economically Backward Class (EBC) voters, thought of a part of the BJP’s assist base, lack land information or class 10 certificates to show they’re certainly residents and residents of their respective constituencies.

“What if my title doesn’t seem within the ultimate listing?” is a query which is being requested not solely by Daulat Ram, a taxi driver, but in addition by a big phase of the inhabitants. “I used to be born right here and have solid my vote in each election. In any case these years they’re now asking me to show my citizenship!” exclaims a Rajput farmer on the RJD workplace in Buxar.

Totally different sorts of kinds are in circulation. Some in English, others in Hindi. They’re being distributed by BLOs, municipal workers and even safai karmacharis. The kinds look practically similar, however a more in-depth examination reveals some particulars are lacking or are totally different, which has solely compounded the confusion.

In Patna, in a number of residential areas individuals have acquired two kinds, even after one was crammed up and picked up by the BLO. Ought to they refill the second type too? What occurs in the event that they don’t? Such doubts are including to individuals’s nervousness.

In village after village, 40 per cent of grownup males appear to have migrated for work. In Ekhara village in Hajipur, Ajit Anjum was advised by a lot of girls that the menfolk had left for Chennai searching for livelihoods. They return every year to attend festivals or to solid their votes in elections. They hop from one metropolis to a different. Most of them have primary telephones to make and obtain calls. The ECI, nonetheless, needs them to obtain functions and add them on-line with legitimate paperwork. What occurs to them if they’re disenfranchised?

Opposition events imagine that the ECI — knowingly or in any other case — is facilitating the political agenda of the ruling occasion in a manner that would reshape Bihar’s voter base. The INDIA bloc has already taken to the streets, calling the method unconstitutional and demanding a rollback. There may be seething anger and nervousness among the many individuals. Sensing the temper, the state authorities is busy asserting one sop after one other — free electrical energy, recruitment of academics — to divert consideration from SIR, rising law-lessness, unemployment and discontent.