ECI defers meeting with multi-party delegation over Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar

New Delhi [India], July 1 (ANI): The Election Commission of India (ECI) has postponed a scheduled meeting with a multi-party delegation on Wednesday regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar due to 'lack of confirmation' from the participating political parties, sources in the poll panel said.
The meeting was originally scheduled on July 2 at 5 PM, they said.
Claiming to represent multiple political parties in the matter, the meeting was initially requested by the All India Congress Committee (AICC), via an email on June 30, EC sources said on Tuesday.
Following standard procedure, the Commission contacted the relevant political parties to confirm their participation in the proposed meeting. However, as of July 1, no confirmation had been received from any of the parties, the ECI sources 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 the multi-party delegation."
"The Commission sought confirmation from these political parties for such a meeting on 2 July 2025 at 5 PM. However, the Commission has not received any confirmation so far. Hence, the meeting of July 2, 2025, had to be deferred," the sources said.
Following the Election Commission of India's decision to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the state assembly polls, Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday affirmed that the main objective of the initiative is to avoid any "illegible" voter and ensure that no one is left out of the voter list.
"As per the Representation of the People Act, you are entitled to vote only in the Assembly constituency where you are an ordinary resident. For example, if you ordinarily reside in Delhi but own a house in Patna, your vote should be registered in Delhi, not in Patna," Chief Election Commissioner said in a statement.
In his statement, the Chief Election Commissioner stated that one lakh volunteers have also been deployed to assist the elderly, sick, persons with disabilities (PwD) and marginalised groups in filling up their Enumeration Forms.
The objective of SIR is to ensure that no eligible voter is left out, and at the same time, no ineligible voter is included in the Electoral Roll. More than one lakh volunteers have also been deployed to assist the elderly, sick, persons with disabilities (PwD) and marginalised groups in filling up their Enumeration Forms", Gyanesh Kumar said in his statement.
Ahead of the Bihar assembly elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI), under the Chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, has started proceedings for the delisting of 345 Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) which have failed to fulfil the essential condition of contesting even a single election for the last six years since 2019 and the offices of these parties could not be physically located anywhere.
According to a release from the Election Commission, these 345 RUPPs are from different States and UTs across the country.
"It has come to the notice of the Commission that of the over 2,800 RUPPs currently registered with ECI, many RUPPs have failed to fulfil the essential conditions that are required to continue as an RUPP. Thus, a nationwide exercise was conducted by the ECI to identify such RUPPs, and 345 have already been identified to date," the EC said. (ANI)