EC releases final voter list: Voter count rises by 1.63 lakh in Patna & 80,000 in Darbhanga

Digital Desk

Election Commission released final list of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar on Tuesday. According list, Patna district has seen an increase of 1,63,600 voters. Earlier, Patna had 46,51,694 voters; the final roll now lists 48,15,694 voters.

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Bihar, the first since 2003, was launched on June 24, 2025. The exercise aimed to remove fake foreign citizens, duplicate entries, and transferred voters from the electoral rolls while adding new eligible voters.

Under this process, forms were collected from 7.24 crore voters. The first phase of SIR concluded on July 25, 2025, achieving 99.8% coverage.

According to official data, 22 lakh voters have died, 36 lakh voters were not found at their registered addresses, and 7 lakh individuals have permanently shifted to new locations.

Districts	New voters added	Old voters
Darbhanga	80,947	27,99,852
Nawada	30,491	16,85,798
Muzaffarpur	88,108	32,03,370

Initially, 11 documents were recognised for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar. Following a Supreme Court directive on September 8, Aadhaar has now been accepted as the 12th document. The court clarified that “Aadhaar is proof of identity, not citizenship,” and directed the Election Commission to include it for voter identification purposes.

The Election Commission announced on September 18 that the SIR will be implemented across the country following Bihar’s model. However, in most states, more than half of the voters will not need to submit any documents, as their names are already included from previous SIRs.

In most regions, this process was completed between 2002 and 2004. Voters already on the list will not need to provide additional documents to verify their date or place of birth. New voters, however, must submit a declaration form stating their date of birth in India. Those born after 1987 will also need to provide their parents’ documents.

The opposition has criticised the move, alleging it is a ploy to deprive people of their voting rights. They questioned why the SIR was announced only at the end of June, nearly 22 years after the previous revision, despite at least five elections being conducted in Bihar since 2003. They argued that even if SIR was necessary, it could have been scheduled comfortably after the Bihar elections instead of being rushed.