"Dangerous for democracy": RJD's Tejashwi Yadav slams ECI over voter revision list

Patna (Bihar) [India], July 17 (ANI): Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday severely lambasted the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, calling the exercise "dangerous" for democracy.
Addressing a press conference in Patna, Tejashwi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, said he cannot remain a silent witness to the dismantling of democracy in Bihar.
"The Election Commission of India is working under the direction of the BJP office. We sensitised people about their rights; we went to the Supreme Court; even the Supreme Court gave its directions, but Gyanesh Kumar did not do a single press conference and answer anything," he said.
"We have no problem with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, but the way the exercise is being conducted is dangerous for democracy. We live in a democracy, and Bihar is the birthplace of democracy, and we cannot see democracy being ended here," the RJD leader further added.
He vowed to fight against the exercise, asserting that he is planning to write letters to all major leaders of the country.
"We will fight against it on all the platforms. We are writing a letter to all the big leaders of the nation and we will be attending the meeting of the INDIA alliance at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on the 19th," Bihar's former Deputy CM said.
Meanwhile. the Election Commission of India (ECI) says it has received Enumeration Forms from over 6.99 crore electors in Bihar ahead of the release of the draft electoral roll on August 1, 2025. As per official data released on Thursday, this accounts for 88.65 per cent of the total 7,89,69,844 registered voters in the state as of June 24, 2025.
A total of 6,47,24,300 forms have already been uploaded to the system, which is 81.96 per cent of the total electorate. However, 6.85 per cent of electors, around 54.07 lakh people, have yet to submit their forms.
During the door-to-door verification process, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) found that 35,69,435 electors (4.5%) were not present at their registered addresses despite three visits. Among them, around 12.55 lakh (1.59%) are suspected to be deceased, 17.37 lakh (2.2%) are believed to have permanently shifted, and 5.76 lakh (0.73%) have been found to be enrolled at multiple places.
The ECI say it is continuing its efforts to reach out to these voters and ensure that no one is left off the rolls. (ANI)