July 22, 2025

People's movements and organisations in Bihar recently held a day-long public hearing to discuss the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state. The panel at the hearing recommended that the SIR should be cancelled instead of modified. The event, called Jan Sunwai, was jointly organized by various groups including Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), Samar Charitable Trust, Swaraj Abhiyan, and Kosi Navnirman Manch at the Bihar Industries Association (BIA) premises in Patna. The panel consisted of notable figures like Anjana Prakash, Wajahat Habibullah, Jean Drèze, Nandini Sundar, D. M. Diwakar, and Bhanwar Meghwanshi. Participants from 14 districts shared their experiences and issues with the panel. Many highlighted challenges like illiterate voters having to pay someone to fill out forms, documents being washed away in floods, threats from district administrations, and discrepancies in the submission of forms by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Jean Drèze remarked on the lack of clarity regarding the purpose of the SIR and its potential disenfranchising effects. The panel emphasized the impracticality and adverse impacts of the SIR on voter inclusion and urged for its cancellation. Experts stressed that the requirements set by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for document submission were unrealistic for many rural residents, hindering their voting rights. The SIR process was criticized for complicating voter registration instead of facilitating it, posing a threat to democracy and political equality according to the panelists. The event concluded with a call for action to safeguard democratic principles and ensure equal participation in the electoral process.

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Tags: Bihar, Sir, Election commission of india, Voter list, Public hearing,