The Election Commission on Tuesday said that those aggrieved at being left out of the draft voters’ list in Bihar after the special intensive revision exercise can file claims using their Aadhaar cards.

This comes after the Supreme Court on August 14 directed the poll panel to specify in public notices that persons excluded from the draft list released on August 1 can furnish their Aadhaar cards at the time of submitting their claims for inclusion in the final list.

The document was not among the poll body’s 11 accepted proofs of identity. Several petitioners had objected to the exclusion of Aadhaar, the most widely held ID, from the list of permissible documents, calling it “absurd”.

In a notice on Tuesday, the Election Commission said that the list of names not included in the draft list, along with the reasons for the deletion, is displayed on the websites of the district election officers and the chief electoral officers in a searchable mode with an Electors Photo Identification Card number.

“Aggrieved persons may submit their claims along with a copy of their Aadhar card,” the notice said.

A day earlier, Bihar Chief Electoral Officer Vinod Singh Gunjiyal also said in a notice that the list of voters excluded from the draft list had been displayed at all block offices, panchayat offices, municipal bodies offices and polling stations, The Indian Express reported.

The draft roll published on August 1 showed that 65.6 lakh names were removed from the list. Of these, 22 lakh were due to deaths, 36 lakh were of people who had permanently shifted or were untraceable and seven lakh were duplicate entries, the Election Commission had said then.

In its order on August 14, the court also directed the poll panel to publish a district-wise list of the voters whose names were deleted from the draft list, along with the reason for each deletion, such as death, migration or double registration.

Sharing the list as well as the reasons for deletions would improve “voter confidence” in the institution, it had said.

The court passed the directions in response to petitions challenging the voter roll revision in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections, expected in October or November.

Following the order, the Election Commission on Sunday published the names of the 65 lakh voters removed from the draft electoral rolls.

Bihar voter roll revision

The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list needed to submit proof of eligibility to vote.

Voters born before July 1, 1987, were required to show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, had to also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents.

Those born after December 2, 2004, needed proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents.

The draft voter list, published on August 1, comprises electors who submitted their enumeration forms to the poll panel between June 24 and July 26.

They will now have to produce proof of citizenship to make it to the final list that will be published on September 30.

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