Bihar SIR raises more questions than answers, over 5 lakh duplicate voters: Cong
Bihar SIR raises more questions than answers, over 5 lakh duplicate voters: Cong
The Congress party’s monitoring panel highlights significant transparency gaps in Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, questioning why the Election Commission has withheld accessible, machine-readable data. By releasing voter lists in fragmented image formats rather than consolidated digital files, the Commission obstructs independent verification, raising serious concerns about the integrity of the electoral process and the public’s ability to trust the resulting voter base. Critics argue that the revision exercise failed to adequately address basic data quality issues, pointing out the presence of over five lakh duplicate entries and the unexplained deletion of nearly thirty lakh voters who previously participated in national elections. This lack of clarity regarding who was removed and whether proper procedures were followed for new additions suggests potential irregularities in maintaining accurate and clean electoral registers. This situation is critical for open data advocates because it underscores the necessity of publishing electoral rolls in structured, machine-readable formats to enable public scrutiny. Without transparent, accessible data, independent actors cannot verify the accuracy of voter lists or identify potential manipulation, which is essential for ensuring free, fair, and credible democratic elections.
Source: hindustantimes.comPublished on 2025-10-09