New Delhi: The Election Commission will carry out an intensive review of electoral rolls this year in six states beginning with Bihar to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth.
Bihar is going to polls this year while assembly polls in five other states — Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal — are scheduled in 2026.
The move, which would be later expanded to other states, assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal foreign migrants, including from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Eventually, the poll authority will begin special intensive revision in the entire country “for the discharge of its constitutional mandate to protect the integrity of the electoral rolls”.
As part of the intense review, poll officials will carry out house-to-house verification to ensure an error-free voters list.
The terms of the legislative assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are ending in May-June next year and an intensive review of the electoral rolls in these states will commence by end of the year, officials said.
However, since assembly polls in Bihar are due later this year, the EC decided to conduct special intensive revision there immediately.
Amid allegations by opposition parties that the EC has fudged voter data to help the BJP, the poll panel has taken additional steps in the intensive revision to ensure illegal migrants do not get enrolled in the voters list.
An additional ‘declaration form’ has been introduced for a category of applicants seeking to become electors or shifting from outside the state. They will have to undertake that they were born in India before July 1, 1987 and provide any document establishing date of birth and/or place of birth.
One of the options listed in the declaration form is that they were born in India between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004.
They will also have to submit documents about the date/place of birth of their parents.
The last intensive revision for Bihar was conducted in 2003.
The EC said multiple reasons such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of the revision to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls.
Booth-level officers will conduct house-to-house survey for verification during the intensive revision process.
While conducting the special revision, the EC will scrupulously adhere to the constitutional and legal provisions regarding eligibility to be registered as a voter and disqualifications for registration in an electoral roll which are clearly laid down in Article 326 of the Constitution and Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, respectively, the poll authority said.
