Foreign nationals account for around 0.012% of Bihar’s voters, SIR shows

The spectre of foreign voters has loomed large over Bihar’s upcoming polls. 

In June 2025, the Election Commission of India launched the Special Intensive Revision to verify nearly 80 million voters in the state, citing concerns over “illegal immigrants” on electoral rolls. A month later, officials claimed that they had identified a “large number of people” from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar during the door-to-door verification process for the revision. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party amplified this rhetoric in its election campaign. At a rally yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the audience: “Mujhe bataaiye, kya Bihar ka bhavishya aap tay karenge, ki ghuspetiya tay karega — Tell me, will you decide the future of Bihar, or will ‘foreign infiltrators.’” During a recent speech, Home Minister Amit Shah referred to so-called foreign infiltrators too: he claimed that the SIR had successfully removed them from Bihar’s electoral rolls. Other BJP leaders have alluded to who they think these infiltrators are: Muslim voters that they have sought to cast as undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.

So far, the election commission had withheld any formal tally of the foreign nationals it identified through the intensive revision. But our reporting suggests that they make up a tiny sliver of Bihar’s vast electorate. 

We analysed the final electoral rolls the election commission published on 30 September. Using Optical Character Recognition software to extract data from the rolls, we identified voters who had been marked as “ayogya” — or ineligible — through the stamps next to their names that declared their statuses. (The software reflected a margin of error of about 0.006 percent in the extraction.) 

The draft electoral rolls, released in early-August, had included 7.24 crore people, and excluded 65 lakh voters. But those exclusions did not declare any voters deemed ineligible — they were related to voters who were dead, absent, shifted, or registered more than once. 

The final rolls, which incorporated voters’ claims and objections to the draft electoral rolls, included 7.42 crore voters. An additional 3.66 lakh people had been removed for one of the four reasons for exclusion listed above, as well as a fifth, new reason: ineligibility. We extracted the dataset to find that the commission had declared about 9,500 people ineligible — or 0.012 percent of 7.42 crore voters — as a result of the SIR. Our estimates for the voters declared ineligible include an adjustment of about five percent to account for automation-led variances. 

By law, a voter can be disqualified if they are a foreign national, have been declared of “unsound mind” by a competent court, or if they have engaged in  corruption or other election-related offences. 

Our data analysis found that over 85 percent of the voters declared ineligible in Bihar were clustered in four districts along the state’s border with Nepal: Supaul, Kishanganj, West Champaran, and East Champaran. We visited five constituencies from Supaul, Kishanganj, and East Champaran districts and verified the details of about 100 voters declared ineligible with the help of election officials and through direct interviews. In only two of the five constituencies were the voters deemed ineligible from another country — around 30 Nepali women who had moved to Bihar after marrying local residents.

Several among these Nepali women had voted in previous elections. They had obtained various documents that established their residences and lives within Bihar. They had simply never needed to formally apply for Indian citizenship before. When their status changed overnight because of the SIR, it caused an upheaval. In the absence of any official instructions, most of them were unclear on the process to follow.

“Using a hammer to kill a fly sitting on your nose” 

At least 70 of the 100 voters who had been deemed ineligible, and whose cases we verified, were not foreign nationals. About half of them appeared to have been declared ineligible incorrectly — they should have been removed under one of the four criteria for exclusions instead. The other half were those who had been unable to submit the requisite documents for the revision’s verification process. 

Indian citizens can file objections to the exclusion or inclusion of any voters with the election commission. In August, the commission received 2.53 lakh such objections after it published the draft electoral rolls, according to the website of Bihar’s Chief Electoral Officer. An examination of these objections indicated that about 1,087 voters had been flagged as being foreigners. The final rolls declared about 689 of them ineligible. This didn’t include those the commission had taken suo motu notice of after its verification process for the revision — such as the Nepali women we met in Supaul district.

The intensive revision drew widespread criticism for its hasty implementation, which put marginalised voters at a disadvantage. Even judged by its intended objective, the exercise’s efficacy is comparable to “using a hammer to kill a fly sitting on your nose,” said political activist Yogendra Yadav, a petitioner in the ongoing Supreme Court case challenging the SIR. 

“Is there a point in troubling eight crore people to find a few thousand,” he asked. The election commission had earlier stated that finding foreigners was a key objective of the intensive revision. But it has since been “quiet” about this claim, Yadav said.  

Voters removed from the rolls, including those who have been declared ineligible, can file counter-claims to advocate for their inclusion. Those whose claims are received and processed until the last day of candidate nominations — October 20 for constituencies polling in the first phase, and October 23 for those in the second — will be able to vote in this election if they are reinstated. This means that the number of voters declared ineligible could decrease further.

Nepali voters were long registered with no prior order to declare ineligible 

A phrase oft-repeated in Bihar’s northern districts illustrates its proximity to its neighbour across the border. “Bihar aur Nepal ke beech mein roti-beti ka sambandh hai” — The bond between Bihar and Nepal has been forged over their food and daughters. 

Unlike Bangladeshi citizens, those from Nepal can freely travel to and from India, without a passport or a visa. This open-border policy, rooted in the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the countries, has enabled fluid social, cultural, and economic exchanges. 

Ranjan Devi, a 27-year-old Nepali national, immigrated to Bihar close to a decade ago, when she got married to Shashi Kumar Yadav from Kamalpur. The village is less than five kilometres away from the border. 

Ranjan hasn’t cast any votes during elections back home after her marriage, she said. She has been voting in Bihar’s elections since 2019, with an Indian voter identity card. She possesses a host of other documents — an Aadhar card, residence certificate, Permanent Account Number card, ration card, and a government-issued life insurance card. Of these, the first two are considered proof of citizenship under the verification process for the SIR. (Voters born between 1987 and 2003 also have to submit proof of citizenship for one of their parents.) In 2021, Ranjan was even elected ward councillor from the gram panchayat of Kamalpur. 

Now, she has been deemed ineligible to vote. On the final electoral rolls, her name was struck through with a stamp — “deleted” — and the serial number corresponding to her name was marked by the letter “Q.” This letter signifies that she has been declared ineligible to vote during this state election. 

Ranjan is among 92 voters deemed ineligible for being a foreign national from the booth to which she was earlier registered, Ajay Kumar Yadav, its Booth Level Officer (BLO) told us. All 92 are Nepali women who moved to India after marrying local residents. 

According to the final electoral rolls, Supaul accounts for over 40 percent of voters declared ineligible in Bihar, the highest across the state. In the two constituencies we visited — Nirmali and Chhatapur — all the voters declared ineligible were Nepali women, their respective BLOs and panchayat officials told us. We were able to detect 75 percent of the total names using an automated script — of which about 90 percent appeared to be Hindu.

Voters declared ineligible grapple with uncertainties over Indian citizenship

For many of these voters, getting an Indian citizenship was not inaccessible — just a process they never had to consider before. 

A foreign national can become a naturalised citizen of India if they have been residing in the country for 12 years — including one uninterrupted year just before their application. Any foreign national who is married to an Indian citizen, and has lived in India for seven years, can also apply for naturalisation after one uninterrupted year of residence in India. As long as they have no criminal charges against them, they can apply to their district magistrate by declaring their intention to relinquish their foreign citizenship and swearing an oath of allegiance to the Indian Constitution. The process takes at least 90 days. 

We asked the voters declared ineligible and their family members about whether they knew the procedure to obtain Indian citizenship. None did. 

Forget applying in time, Ranjan didn’t even know that she had been declared ineligible until we met her. Several residents from Kamalpur surrounded us during our visit to the village, anxious to know whether the Nepali immigrants in their families faced the same fate. At least 25 men learnt from us — for the first time — that their wives had been deemed ineligible. They were incensed. The BLO Ajay Kumar Yadav told us that he did not have “any orders” to disseminate information to such voters. 

“What would happen to my kids,”  asked Jashoda Devi, a 37-year-old woman from Nepal, who moved to Shivnagar village in Supaul after her marriage. “Apart from voting, what else will be taken away from me,” she wondered. 

Jashoda’s husband, Naresh Singh, and his elder brother, Suresh, have both been ward councilors. She had herself held the post from 2015 to 2020. In 2021, she was set to stand for election again when the block office informed her family members that those born in Nepal were ineligible to compete. Her mother-in-law was elected to the position instead. 

Like Jashoda, Rita Kumari Mandal, the 31-year-old daughter-in-law of Shivnagar’s village head, is among the voters declared ineligible. She moved to India more than a decade ago — and has a government-issued Aadhaar card, PAN Card, driving license, caste certificate, and residence certificate. 

Devnandan Singh — the BLO for the booth to which Rita was earlier assigned — said that block-level election officials from the region had asked booth-level officers to identify voters who were foreign nationals. Those identified were then called for a hearing at the block office and asked to submit their forms. The voters realised they had been deemed ineligible only after the final electoral rolls were released. 

Jitendra Suman, the BLO for the booth from which Jashoda was earlier registered, confirmed this account. When BLOs in the area sought clarity from their superiors about the processes to follow for Nepali citizens who had voted in previous elections, there was no clear response, Jitendra recalled. He even warned the men married to Nepali women from the village that he was overseeing, so that they could organise themselves and resolve the issue with district authorities. “But it didn’t materialise,” he said. 

“This is wrong,” Jitendra added. “There is no awareness among the people about how Nepalis can get Indian citizenship. They have never needed to [do this before].” Devnandan concurred. “We had registered these women over the years, there was no policy to declare them ineligible.” 

Jitendra added that the Nepali women had become deeply rooted in the communities they were now a part of. “Our Bihari daughters are similarly placed in Nepal,” he pointed out. “How can we treat them [the Nepali women] like this?”

Amarendra Yadav — a 30-year-old resident from Kamalpur village in Supaul district — was shocked when he realised that his wife was among those declared ineligible. He recalled presenting her documents to the block office in August, after the draft electoral rolls were published. He had gone with several other residents from the village, who were submitting documents on behalf of the Nepali citizens they had married

“We did what we were told. Why have the women been deleted now? Why did no one tell us,” Amarendra had many unanswered questions. “They have been living here for years, and even voted many times. How can they be deleted suddenly? 95 percent of the women in our village were born in Nepal. They have come here legitimately. How can you call them ghuspaithiye — infiltrators?”

Indian citizens from West Bengal among voters declared ineligible

Bokanekala village from Chiraiya constituency in East Champaran district accounted for about 80 percent of the voters deemed ineligible in that constituency — 78 people. None of the 53 voters whose cases we verified in Bokanekala were foreign nationals. 

Sachin Kumar, the BLO for the booth corresponding to Bokanekala village, affirmed that he had not identified any foreign nationals in this constituency — in fact, he had not even listed any of its voters as ineligible. “In my list, I submitted these voters as shifted, dead, or absent, as was applicable. I don’t know how they turned into voters declared ineligible,” he said. “I didn’t declare anyone ineligible.” The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) for Chiraiya did not respond to our calls or text messages for comment.

In Kishanganj district, about 1,400 voters have been declared ineligible from Kishanganj constituency and about 900 from Bahadurganj constituency. The district, which accounts for about 35 percent of the voters declared ineligible in Bihar, shares its border with Nepal and West Bengal. At its closest point, Kishanganj district is less than 30 kilometres away from Bangladesh. 

None of the 25 voters declared ineligible, whose details we verified from the two constituencies in this district, were foreign nationals.  Neither the BLOs for the booths we visited nor the panchayat officials from those villages said that any of the voters declared ineligible were foreign nationals. The ERO of Kishanganj constituency made no such claim either.

Among the voters declared ineligible is Saishta Parveen, a 28-year-old resident of Thipi Jhari village. This village is less than a kilometer from West Bengal, where Saishta grew up. She moved to Thipi Jhari over a decade ago, when she got married to Mohammad Bakhtiyar. He currently works in Sikkim as a mason, returning home twice or thrice a year. 

Saishta couldn’t fathom the reason she had been deemed ineligible. Her best guess was that it had something to do with her place of birth. “I had submitted my enumeration form thrice,” she said. “I also attached the documents I was asked to submit.” Saishta’s birth certificate and school-leaving certificate listed her natal family’s address in West Bengal. So did her father’s passport.

Saishta is an active member of a local self-help group that extends credit to women starting small enterprises, she told us. Her Aadhaar and ration card are registered to her marital home. In October this year, she had also received 10,000 rupees through the Bihar government’s Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, or Chief Minister's Women Employment Scheme, which is intended for women from the state. “How is my vote suddenly taken away from me,” Parveen asked. “I have only voted in Bihar after getting married.”  

“Those whose documents were found to be improper were declared ineligible,” Shahnawaz Ahmad Niyazi, the ERO for Kishanganj constituency, told us. He said that he would need to assess the rolls “case-by-case” to clarify why individual voters had been declared ineligible. 

Marriages across the borders of Bihar and West Bengal are extremely common, said Arshad Alam, a local ward member of Thipi Jhari. Yet, he noted, several women like Saishta — originally from Bengal, now settled in Bihar — had been deemed ineligible. “Many Bengali women are residents of Bihar, and vice versa. But they deserve to have the right to vote,” Arshad added. 

Bihar’s Chief Electoral Officer and spokespersons from the election commission did not respond to requests for comment. The Press Information Bureau’s spokesperson for the election commission acknowledged our queries. This article will be updated when we receive a response.

Edited by Nikita Saxena.

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