Key Points

ECI insiders confirmed that after putting in a request for an appointment on Wednesday, the parties appear to have backed out of the meeting.

“The Commission sought confirmation from these political parties for a meeting on July 2 at 5 p.m. However, the Commission has not received any confirmation so far. Hence, the meeting of July 2 had to be deferred,” said an official source.

Shedding light on the chain of events, the ECI insider said, “An email was received on June 30 from a legal counsel of AICC, seeking an urgent appointment with the Election Commission for July 2 regarding SIR of Bihar on behalf of many political parties, by representing himself as a counsel of multi-party delegation.”

Last month, the ECI commenced an SIR of the electoral rolls aimed at verifying the eligibility of every voter in Bihar ahead of the November-December Assembly election.

Under the SIR, the ECI is reinforcing its booth-level workforce by appointing 20,603 additional Booth Level Officers (BLOs), augmenting the current strength of 77,895 BLOs across the state.

Over 1 lakh volunteers have also been roped in to assist genuine electors, especially senior citizens, the disabled, the sick, the economically disadvantaged, and other vulnerable groups.

All recognised national and state political parties have appointed 1,54,977 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to aid in the revision process, with the option to appoint more agents as the work progresses.

Enumeration Forms (EFs) are being distributed door-to-door and are also available online for Bihar’s 7.89 crore registered electors across 243 Assembly constituencies.

Out of these, around 4.96 crore electors, who were registered as of January 1, 2003, need only to verify their details and submit the EF.

The ECI has also uploaded the 2003 Electoral Roll of Bihar, comprising details of 4.96 crore electors, on its website as a measure to facilitate the ongoing SIR.

Highlighting that nearly 60 per cent of the total electorate in the state would not have to submit any documents, the official said in a statement that these voters can verify their details from the 2003 Electoral Rolls and submit the filled-up Enumeration Form.

Both the electors as well the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would be able to readily access these details, he said.

The uploading of the 2003 Electoral Roll on the ECI website – https://voters.eci.gov.in - would hugely facilitate the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, said the statement.

The ECI said District Magistrates and Divisional Commissioners are overseeing the deployment of BLOs, who are now working full-time on the revision exercise.

Additionally, the ECI is reaching out to voters through SMS campaigns targeting over 5.74 crore registered mobile numbers in Bihar.

- IANS