New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday said nearly 100,000 electors remain “untraceable” in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar while enumeration forms of 71.7 million have been received and digitised, even as lawmaker Giridhari Yadav of the Janata Dal (United), a BJP ally, criticised the ongoing controversial exercise, terming it “rushed and impractical”. 100K ‘untraceable’ in SIR; JD(U) MP questions drive

In a press release on Wednesday, just two days before the July 25 deadline for the first phase of the SIR, the poll body said nearly 1.5 million electors were yet to return the filled enumeration forms to local poll officials.

“In the first phase of Bihar SIR, the lists of all primarily incorrectly included electors, and those who have not yet returned their Enumeration Forms have been shared, on 20th July, with 1.5 lakh (150,000) Booth Level Agents (BLAs) nominated by District Presidents of all 12 major political parties of Bihar,” EC said in the release.

According to the poll authority, 2 million electors have been reported “deceased” so far and 2.8 million have been found to have permanently shifted from their present addresses.

After the completion of the first phase of the SIR, the draft electoral roll will be published on August 1. If there is any error in the draft roll, any elector or political party can file an objection regarding the inclusion of the name of any proposed elector with the concerned electoral registration officer of that assembly constituency by September 1. Similarly, if any eligible person does not find their name in the draft roll, they can file their claims up to September 1, EC noted.

On Tuesday, the commission had said that 5.2 million voters were not present at their listed addresses and another 1.8 million were found to be deceased. Another 2.6 million electors had shifted to other constituencies, while 700,000 were enrolled at two places, EC had said.

The revision exercise just months before the crucial Bihar assembly elections — slated to be held in October-November this year — has drawn strong criticism from most Opposition political parties. Several opposition leaders and non-profit organisations have moved the Supreme Court challenging the June 24 directive of EC to carry out an SIR in Bihar, apparently to weed out ineligible names and ensure only eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll, questioning the timing of the contentious move.

On Wednesday, Banka MP Giridhari Yadav, whose party JD(U) is a key partner in the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) both at the Centre and in the poll-bound state, criticised the SIR exercise and slammed EC.

“This (SIR) has been imposed on us forcefully,” Yadav was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “Election Commission has no practical knowledge. It neither knows the history nor the geography of Bihar. It took 10 days for me to collect all the documents. My son stays in America. How will he do the signatures in just a month?”

The JD(U) lawmaker added: “At least six months’ time should have been given for this… I am giving my personal opinion. It doesn’t matter what the party is saying… This is the truth. If I can’t tell the truth, why have I become an MP?”

The issue also rocked the proceedings in the Bihar legislative assembly during the ongoing monsoon session, with chief minister Nitish Kumar and leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav engaging in a spat.

The Supreme Court will hear petitions challenging EC’s last month directive on July 28. In an affidavit submitted in compliance with a July 10 directive of the top court, EC defended the exercise, calling it necessary to restore public trust and improve the accuracy of the rolls.

In its affidavit, EC emphasised that all major political parties in Bihar had appointed BLAs across the state and were actively participating in the process. It also accused the petitioners of suppressing facts and relying on outdated data.