In a major development following a Supreme Court directive, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has published the names of over 65 lakh voters who were removed from the draft electoral rolls in Bihar. The names were deleted during the recently conducted Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise by the poll body. The complete list has been uploaded to the official website of the Election Commission, allowing public access for verification and transparency.

This move comes in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order issued on August 14, which instructed the Election Commission to disclose the details of all voters omitted from the draft rolls. In line with the court’s directive, the ECI has also launched a new portal link on its Bihar website to enable voters to easily search for their names and check whether they were removed from the electoral list.

The apex court emphasized that the Election Commission must provide not only the names of deleted voters but also specify the reasons for their removal. These reasons include death, migration to another location, or duplication in voter registration.

By making the district-wise data available, the Election Commission has taken a step toward restoring transparency and public trust in the electoral process. This initiative enables manual access to deleted records and reasons cited for deletion, giving concerned citizens an opportunity to review and challenge errors, if any.

The Special Intensive Revision was part of the poll body’s effort to clean and update the electoral database in Bihar. However, the deletion of such a large number of voters had triggered significant controversy, with opposition parties and civil society groups raising concerns over transparency and voter disenfranchisement.

With the release of this list, the Election Commission has attempted to ensure accountability and uphold the integrity of the electoral process in Bihar ahead of upcoming elections.