New Delhi: Details of 65 lakh removed voters from Bihar’s draft election roll have been uploaded on the websites of District Magistrates as per the direction of the Supreme Court, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanish Kumar said on Sunday. The Apex Court, hearing the petitions against the Special Intensive Amendment (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the poll-bound Bihar last week, directed the Election Commission to publish the names removed with the causes of their non-comprehensive reasons to increase transparency. Kumar said, “Within 56 hours of the apex court directive, the names of voters who were not included in the draft electoral rolls have been posted on district websites.” He said that under the Commission’s guidelines, the Election Registration Officer (EROS), who is the sub-division magistrate-level officer, prepared and finalize the role with the help of booth level officers (BLOS). “Eros and Blos take responsibility for the purity of the electoral rolls,” he said. The Election Commission said that the draft electoral rolls are shared with political parties in both digital and physical formats and are also uploaded on its website for public access. After the publication, a period of one month is available for voters and parties to enter claims and objections before the final list is released. In Bihar, the draft roles were published on August 1 and will remain open till 1 September, giving parties and individuals to the eligible voters to include or remove unqualified names. Sir, while defending the exercise, Kumar said that it was “a case of serious concern” that some sides were spreading “misinformation” about the process. He insisted that India’s electoral system for Parliament and Assembly elections is a “envisaged by law as a multi -layered, decentralized construction.”
