New Delhi: Days after the Election Commission of India published the final electoral roll in Bihar following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) – which showed that the electorate in the state had shrunk by about 6%, – Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in a press conference on Sunday (October 5) did not provide any details about the number of foreign “illegal immigrants” found in the rolls or the reasons for deletion of 47 lakh voters.Instead, Kumar said that the data is available with district magistrates, who had made it available to political parties at the district level, and claims and objections can be raised till ten days before the filing of nomination for the polls.Kumar also did not provide any clear answers about why there were dozens of voters found residing in a single house, or whether Aadhaar cards will be accepted as a supportive document during the nationwide SIR.No mention of illegal immigrants, reasons for deletion of namesAddressing a press conference in Patna on the preparation of the poll body for conducting the assembly elections in Bihar, Kumar said that the Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) prepare the electoral rolls, and the names that have been deleted included those who were not Indian citizens, those who had died, found registered at multiple places and had shifted permanently.“There was a question on how many names were deleted. The names that have been excluded, as you all know… every ERO has done verification in their area through the claims and objections verification period followed by the verification process. In the state, about 65 lakh names [were] deleted first and then 3.66 lakhs [ineligible voters] have been deleted. These voters were deleted because the ERO found them to be ineligible and they can still appeal to the district magistrate if they have any objections even now,” said Kumar.The Wire has reported that the final electoral list released after the Bihar SIR has not come with reasons for the deletion of 47 lakh voters, whether new voters were added through Form 6 or those who filed claims, and how many were excluded because they lacked documents, or how many foreign “illegal immigrants” were found.The reasons for deletion remain missing despite the Supreme Court asking the poll body on August 14 to publish on its website the list of names excluded from the draft electoral rolls, along with the reasons for deletion.Kumar said that political parties at the district level have been provided the list of deleted names and, if any shortcomings are found, they can take it up with their respective ERO to get them corrected.“As far as the list of these names is concerned, every political party at the district level has been given these names by the district magistrate. We hope they will probe these names and if there is any shortcoming, they will take it up with the concerned ERO and get it corrected. As far as the number is concerned, every ERO and every district magistrate has given it to political parties. Now it is the responsibility of political parties… we have urged them to allot polling agents in every polling station and counting agents for counting, in the same way they should examine the final electoral roll and if there is any shortcoming they should bring it forward.”“The names deleted from the electoral rolls include those who have died, those who are not Indian citizens, those who are registered in multiple places, and those who have shifted permanently. The responsibility to create the electoral roll is of the ERO. So every ERO and every district magistrate has this data,” he said.The EC, while announcing the exercise on June 24, had stated that among other reasons, the SIR was necessitated due to inclusion of “foreign illegal immigrants” in the rolls. But it has not provided the numbers of such immigrants that were found in the exercise. Other unanswered questionsThe Wire has also reported that the Election Commission has historically released highly detailed, multi-format data following standard Summary Revisions (SR) of electoral rolls at least since 2009, up till January 2025.While the SIR has also faced criticism for the exercise being conducted so close to the elections in Bihar, Kumar pointed to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and said that it is legal to conduct any revision process before the elections.“On SIR being conducted before the elections, if you go by the Representation of the People Act, revision being conducted before the elections is lawful and has to be conducted before elections. To say revision has to be conducted after elections is not in accordance with law,” he said.In response to questions raised by political parties about hundreds of voters residing in a single house, Kumar said that those who do not have their homes or have not been given house numbers, they are designated numbers of neighbouring homes or given the number zero.“Those who do not have their own homes or those who have not been allotted home numbers by panchayat or municipal authorities, they are either given a number of any neighbouring house or are given the number zero,” he said. ‘There is nothing to be concerned about because when a booth level officer takes any enumeration form, every political party’s agent is present to make claims and objections. In Bihar over 1,60,000 booth level agents were named by political parties.”The SIR in Bihar also faced criticism due to the poll body’s flip flop on accepting Aadhaar cards. In response to questions on whether Aadhaar, which was left out of the 11 documents that can be used to verify voters eligibility, and then included as a 12th document following the Supreme Court’s intervention, Kumar said that the apex court too had said that Aadhaar card is not proof of citizenship. “If anyone got an Aadhaar card after 2023 or downloaded it after 2023, the Aadhaar card itself, under several orders of the Supreme Court, states that the Aadhaar card is not proof of age or citizenship. The Supreme Court did say, and we are following that order, that Aadhaar cards should be accepted. We were also accepting Aadhaar cards in the enumeration form and still are,” he said while adding that it is only an identity document.As the election process comes under scrutiny, read The Wire’s coverage of the Bihar SIR, opposition’s allegations and more, here