As many as 2,92,048 voters in Bihar have their house number as ‘0’, ‘00’, and ‘000’, shows an analysis of Bihar’s draft voter list prepared after the controversial special intensive revision by the Election Commission of India. The draft rolls were published and uploaded on the ECI’s website on August 1.

An official from the Bihar chief electoral office (CEO) conceded that such “errors” slip into the rolls. “At times, voters don’t fill in their house numbers. However, the ECI website still accepts such (enrolment) applications. That’s why the default value for the house number is shown ‘0’. We will try to rectify it,” said deputy chief electoral officer Ashok Priyadarshi.

Opposition parties have criticised SIR, alleging that it would lead to mass exclusion from voting. In the draft electoral roll of the state, 65 lakh voters were struck off the voter list.

Newslaundry examined draft voter lists of over 7 crore electors at 87,898 polling booths spread over 235 assembly constituencies of the total 243 in Bihar.  

Newslaundry could not analyse 2,184 polling booths in eight assembly seats because the ECI has changed the voter roll format on its website to non-machine-readable. This development occurred after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on August 7, alleged “vote chori” (vote theft) in a Bengaluru assembly segment. The voter list was initially uploaded in a machine-readable format. 

Data in machine-readable format is structured in a way that computers can easily read and process information from it. In contrast, non-machine-readable data is typically unstructured, making it difficult or impossible for computers to efficiently read or analyse without human intervention.  

The Magadh and Patna regions in Bihar saw the highest number of voters with their house numbers reading “0”. 

The electorate list of Obra assembly constituency in Aurangabad district revealed the highest number of such voters at 6,637, followed by Phulwari (5,905), Maner (4,602), Forbesganj (4,155), Danapur (4,063), Gopalganj (3,957), Patna Sahib (3,806), Hajipur (3,802), Darbhanga (3,634), and Gaya Town (3,561). 

Seven of these constituencies, except Forbesganj, Hajipur, and Darbhanga, fall in the Patna region, one of the most developed parts of the state. 

A total of 15 constituencies saw over 3,000 such names. Agiaon in Bhojpur district had the least number of such voters at 47.

Here's a map of Bihar with assembly constituency-wise numbers on voters with house number '0' on the draft voter rolls. Hover your cursor on the constituency to reveal the number of such voters.

Case of bogus voters

In a press release on June 24, the ECI said the aim of conducting a special intensive revision of the voter list was to ensure that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible voter makes it to the list. In an unprecedented move, the poll body also demanded that every voter would have to prove their citizenship before they are allowed to vote.

During the first phase of the SIR, the Booth Level Officers had to go door to door to collect a copy of the enumeration forms for every voter, sign the acknowledgement of receipt on the second copy to be retained by the voter. Those who have managed to submit enumeration forms have made it to the draft voter list and will now have to submit supporting documents by September 1 to prove their citizenship. 

According to a press release on July 27, the commission collected enumeration forms of 91.6 percent of the electors. It also said 65 lakh voters were left out of the list. Of these, 22 lakh were dead, 36 lakh had moved or were not found, and 7 lakh were left out for duplications, the ECI said. 

Though proof of residence like a passport, a bank passbook book or a driving license is mandatory evidence required to register oneself as a voter, Newslaundry had previously reported that untraceable voters can make it to the list. In UP’s Meerut, two booths had 27 percent fake voters, and the UP Chief Electoral Officer had pointed out the lack of a mechanism to get rid of ‘such voters’.

Newslaundry has reached out to ECI for a response. The story will be updated if they respond.

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