Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, facing criticism from the Opposition for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, ahead of Assembly polls there, said on Sunday (July 6, 2025) that the panel held extensive consultations with political parties and that no one was satisfied with the current status of electoral rolls.
In a statement here, Mr. Kumar said, “During the past four months, all 4,123 Electoral Registration Officers [EROs], all 775 District Electoral Officers [DEOs] and all 36 Chief Election Officers [CEOs] have held nearly 5,000 meetings with 28,000 political party representatives. The EC has also invited all recognised political parties for interaction. No one was satisfied with the current status of electoral rolls for one reason or other.”
Mr. Kumar’s statement comes at a time when the Election Commission is facing intense criticism from the Opposition parties on various accounts. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders have accused the panel of manipulation of electoral rolls in Maharashtra. The Opposition has also criticised the SIR, claiming that it will lead to mass disenfranchisement, questioning the timing of the exercise so close to the polls and exclusion of documents such as Aadhaar and MNREGA job cards from documents used for voter verification.
