Although the Election Commission (EC)’s indicative list of 11 documents that can establish a person’s date and place of birth for qualification under its special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar may appear comprehensive on paper, the reality is that it places an undue burden on the state’s population.That’s because Bihar’s demographic realities as well as the actual contents of these documents mean that swathes of electors would be unable to or have to jump through hoops to comply, not because they are ineligible but simply because they do not have these documents for no fault of their own.With the SIR’s ongoing claims and objections phase set to end on September 1, people who have made it to the draft rolls (and whose names do not figure in the 2003 voter list), but did not submit any of the 11 documents, need to do so before the deadline so that their eligibility for inclusion in the final rolls can be scrutinised.Those who did not make it to the draft rolls, meanwhile, can submit a claim for their inclusion in them by September 1.In this context, let us recall the nature of the 11 documents the EC prescribed in its order announcing the SIR on June 24.The document landscapeThese are the 11 documents the EC has prescribed as establishing one’s “date and/or place of birth”.Birth certificatesPassportsGovernment employee identity cards/pension payment ordersPre-1987 government-issued IDs/certificatesMatriculation/educational certificatesPermanent residence (domicile) certificatesCaste certificatesFamily registersForest rights certificatesLand/house application certificatesNational Register of CitizensFamily registers and the National Register of Citizens do not apply in Bihar. Birth certificates and passports always contain one’s date and place of birth, while the other documents are less reliable on this front.Bihar’s realityBihar’s voter base has grown from 4.96 crore in 2003 to 7.89 crore in June 2025.The table below, based on the most accurate available data, shows the estimated population for each birth cohort from 1986 to 2007 (aged 18-39 in 2025), the percentage of them that have birth certificates and the resulting number of people with and without this crucial document.Voters already on the 2003 rolls need not submit any new document. By a crude estimate, of the 4.96 crore electors in 2003, about 3.79 crore are likely still alive in 2025, with Bihar’s life expectancy being 69 years and about 1.17 crore present electors on the 2003 list having been born 70 years or further before 2025.With 7.89 crore voters in June 2025, that leaves 7.89-3.79 = 4.1 crore voters who could actually be asked to furnish proof of birthplace now.For these cohorts (1986-2007), historic birth registration was very low – averaging under 10%.Even if a 10% average rate is applied to these 4.1 crore people, only ~0.41 crore can readily produce a birth certificate. That means about 3.7 crore people would struggle to offer the more common of the two ‘always acceptable’ documents.As the table indicates, even for the youngest eligible voters in 2025, fewer than 30% are estimated to have a birth certificate. For older cohorts, the rate is below 10%.The overwhelming majority – over five crore births – do not have the only relatively common document that always contains one’s place of birth.Bihar has a 71% birth registration rate, but as this figure is for recent births (2022), it is irrelevant for the current voter base, all of whom were born in 2007 or earlier. As the table shows, the birth registration rate for these cohorts was dramatically lower, especially for those born before 2000.(Note: The over-4.89 crore people without birth certificates is the number of births with no registration, not the number of people alive, living in Bihar and on today’s rolls. To translate births into current electors one must subtract those who have died since birth, subtract those who migrated out and vote elsewhere, and account for under-registration on Bihar’s rolls.)The bureaucratic trapAmong the other documents that may include one’s place of birth, the odds are not in favour of the average Bihari:Government employee IDs are rare among the general population.Pre-1987 documents are irrelevant for all current and future voters.Matriculation certificates may not mention place of birth in modern formats.Permanent residence and caste certificates can also be inconsistent and mention address or community, not birthplace.Passports, although also containing date and place of birth, are estimated to cover some 2% of Bihar’s population as of end-2023.For the poor, the rural and the marginalised – who form the majority in Bihar – these documents are either unavailable or unusable as proof of birthplace.The human costIn other words, some 3.7 crore citizens in Bihar who are required to furnish the details of their birth may not possess the most reliable of the EC’s listed documents that would help them do so.This, again, is not because they are not Indian but because they cannot produce a document that was never issued to them.Considering the constrained timeline in which the SIR is taking place (having begun a mere five months before assembly polls), its timing (when Bihar is prone to flooding) and the fact that Bihar has a relatively high rate of out-migration, the exercise has placed an undue burden on electors to hurriedly obtain documents they do not have.Many electors as well as volunteers have been forced to scramble to get their hands on one of the 11 documents within the deadline lest they risk being disenfranchised. Some others remain confused or uninformed about what they must submit even as the September 1 deadline approaches.The EC’s intention to ensure the integrity of the electoral rolls is understandable. But requiring documents that a majority of citizens may never have had access to is not just impractical – it is unjust. The right to vote is the cornerstone of democracy. Policies that risk disenfranchising millions due to administrative technicalities must be urgently reconsidered.If the EC truly seeks to uphold the spirit of Indian democracy, it must acknowledge the realities on the ground and design verification processes that do not punish citizens for the failures of the past. Anything less is a betrayal of the very people democracy is meant to serve.Appendix To estimate Bihar’s population for each year from 1986 to 2007 (excluding areas that now form Jharkhand), available census data for 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 were used. Since yearly population totals weren’t available, the growth in population for each decade was calculated and the compound annual growth rate – the average yearly increase for that decade – was computed. This steady growth rate was then applied to estimate the population in each intervening year.Crude birth rate data for the years before 1999 here applies to the undivided Bihar as rates from that time for the districts that today make up Bihar are not available. Birth registration rates are not available for years before 2000 but are conservatively assumed to have stayed the same until 1986, even as the actual rates are likely to have been lower. The number of electors on the 2003 rolls who are likely still alive was roughly estimated by downloading these rolls and excluding those who were 49 years of age or older at the time, as Bihar’s life expectancy is some 69 years, and such persons would be about 70 or older today.Syed Khalid Saifullah is vice chairman of the Indian National Congress’s data analytics department.