Bihar CEO appeals for active urban participation in voter list revision campaign

Patna, July 12 (IANS) Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar Vinod Singh Gunjiyal has appealed to all urban voters to actively participate in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) Campaign 2025, which is being conducted across the state as per the instructions of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The campaign will continue until July 25, 2025.

While voter participation in rural areas has been encouraging, with about 77 per cent enumeration forms compiled, urban areas are witnessing relatively lower participation.

The Election Commission has received enumeration forms in urban areas of Patna, such as 64 per cent in Digha, 67 per cent in Kumhrar, 72 per cent in Bankipur, 74.21 per cent in Patna Sahib, 73 per cent in Danapur, 69 per cent in Gaya Town, 71 per cent in Bhagalpur Town and 70 per cent in Muzaffarpur Town.

The CEO highlighted that vote percentages in urban areas generally remain lower, reflecting voter indifference towards the electoral process.

Prefilled enumeration forms were distributed earlier, of which 60-65 per cent have been returned, but many remain uncollected.

Under the current campaign, BLOs and municipal personnel are delivering forms through the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ program. Voters are required to fill in Name, EPIC number, mobile number, other necessary details and attach a passport-sized photo.

Voters can also download and fill out the pre-filled enumeration forms online. Even if some documents are unavailable, voters are urged to submit the forms immediately, ensuring their inclusion in the draft voter list to be published on August 1, 2025.

Missing documents can be submitted during the claims and objections period (August 1 – September 1, 2025).

By 6 PM on Saturday, 6,32,59,497 (80.11 per cent) enumeration forms have been collected, meaning four out of every five voters in Bihar have submitted their forms.

A total of 4.66 crore forms have been digitised and uploaded on ECINet by BLOs.

The printing and distribution of 100 per cent forms have been nearly completed, with expectations that most forms will be submitted before the July 25 deadline.

77,895 BLOs and 20,603 newly appointed BLOs are deployed across Bihar for the timely collection of enumeration forms.

38 DEOs, 243 EROs, and 963 Assistant EROs are monitoring the campaign at the field level under the CEO’s supervision.

1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) from all recognised political parties are engaged in door-to-door outreach.

Four lakh volunteers are assisting senior citizens, PwD voters, and vulnerable sections in the form submission.

The CEO emphasised that submitting the enumeration form on time is mandatory for inclusion in the draft voter list. Voters needing additional time to gather documents should still submit the form before July 25 and can provide documents later by August 30, 2025.

The ECINet platform, the ECI’s latest integrated software, is facilitating the seamless digitisation and uploading of forms, consolidating 40 different ECI applications into a single streamlined system.

“Your participation is the real strength of democracy. We appeal to all urban voters to come forward and actively cooperate to make this voter revision campaign a success,” said Vinod Singh Gunjiyal, Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar.

--IANS

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