"EC has lost its credibility, that's why questions are being raised": Congress' Harish Rawat

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], October 1 (ANI): Congress leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Wednesday alleged that the Election Commission of India and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar have lost their "credibility".
Speaking to ANI, Rawat asked the poll body to specify exactly how many infiltrators have been removed from the voters' list, as they had been constantly claiming that infiltrators were present in Bihar.
"The Election Commission has lost its credibility, and the exercise they are calling SIR before the Bihar elections... In the list they have released, they repeatedly state that there are infiltrators, but now they should tell us exactly how many infiltrators have been removed from the voters' list... The Election Commission has lost its credibility, and that is why these questions are being raised," Rawat told ANI.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar expressed gratitude towards all the electors, political parties and other key stakeholders involved in the Special Intensive Revision of the voter list in Bihar, as the Election Commission issued the final electoral roll ahead of the Assembly elections.
CEC Gyanesh Kumar thanked all BLOs, EROs, AEROs, DEOs and the CEO of Bihar; and all BLAs, District Presidents, State Presidents and National Presidents of all Political Parties in Bihar for the successful completion of the SIR in Bihar after a gap of 22 years.
On Tuesday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) published the final electoral roll for the Bihar assembly elections following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The total number of electors in the final list stands at 7.42 crore, while there were 7.89 crore electors as of June 24 this year.
An Election Commission press release stated that 65 lakh voters were removed from the draft list, and the number of electors in the draft list as of August 1, 2025, stood at 7.24 crore.
It stated that ineligible electors removed from the draft list stood at 3.66 lakh, while 21.53 lakh eligible electors were added to the draft list (Form 6), taking the total to 7.42 crore voters.
The SIR exercise was carried out in line with Article 326 of the Constitution and ECI's motto of 'no eligible voter to be left out, and no ineligible person to be included in the Electoral rolls', the release said. (ANI)