Nine myths and a bitter truth

You haven’t seen a more brazen attempt to disenfranchise Indian citizens than the nationwide ‘special intensive revision’ of voter rolls the Election Commission of India (ECI) has embarked on in Bihar. It is being sold as an overdue thorough clean-up of the voter rolls—apparently to be conducted nationwide, starting with Bihar—but is anything but. To make things worse, there are all kinds of myths and misconceptions in circulation about the exercise — nine when I last counted. I’ll add to these a bitter truth to round off the list of 10 things you should know about this most diabolical exercise.

Myth #1

<The Election Commission is carrying out an intensive revision and ‘correction’ of Bihar voter rolls>

Fact-check. This is not a revision of the existing voter list. The old list is being scrapped entirely, and a new voter roll is being prepared from scratch.

 Myth #2

<Nothing new about this revision exercise—it has been done before>

Fact-check. Absolutely not. What’s happening this time is unprecedented. After voter lists were digitised, the need to prepare them from scratch went away. This is the first such instance in 22 years. Never before has the onus of getting their name on the list been placed on the voter. Never before have voters been asked to furnish documents to prove their citizenship. Never before has a new list been prepared just four months before an election.

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Myth #3

<The Bihar voter rolls were especially flawed, so this had to be done>

Fact-check. Incorrect. Just six months ago, there was a full-scale revision of Bihar’s voter list. Lakhs of names were added and deleted. The revised list was published in January. No major complaints of irregularities were raised. Minor errors were already being addressed through ongoing updates. If at all needed, another revision could have been done. There was neither a demand nor a genuine need to junk the entire list and start over.

Myth #4

<Those whose names were on the 2003 voter list will not need to do anything>

Fact-check. Wrong again. Everyone will have to fill out a new form. Those whose names in the January 2025 list exactly match their full name, father’s name and address in the 2003 voter list will be spared submitting proof of birth date and birthplace. But even these people will need to fill out the form, attach a photograph and signature, and a photocopy of the page from the 2003 list that shows their name.

Myth #5

<Documents will be sought only from those whose citizenship is in doubt>

Fact-check. This is false. Anyone whose name did not appear in the 2003 list must submit documents along with the new form.

 §  Those born before 1 July 1987 must submit proof of their date and place of birth

§  Those born between 1 July 1987 and 2 December 2004 must submit proof either for themselves or for one parent

§  Those born after 2 December 2004 must submit documents for both themselves and both parents. If the parents’ names appeared in the 2003 list, then a photocopy of that page will suffice as proof for them — but the applicant still has to provide birth-related documents.

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Myth #6

<The Election Commission has provided many options for proof of citizenship — surely every household will have something>

Fact-check. Documents people typically produce as proof of ID — Aadhaar card, ration card, the Election Commission’s own voter ID card, job cards under MNREGA — will not be accepted. Of the 11 acceptable documents the ECI lists, many do not apply to Bihar or are rarely available. For example: passport (which only 2.4% have), birth certificate (2.8%), government employee or pensioner ID (5%), caste certificate (16%) — these are not available in ordinary homes. That leaves school-leaving or degree certificates — available with less than half the people of Bihar.

Myth #7

Fact-check. That’s on paper. In practice, the rules are loaded against those who’ve had limited access to education. The fallout? Women, the poor, migrant workers, Dalits, Adivasis and backward communities will have a real battle on their hands to produce the required documents — and end up losing their vote. Education is effectively becoming a precondition for citizenship.

Myth #8

<The Election Commission has given three months — there’s enough time for everyone to be included>

Fact-check. The real window is just one month — until 25 July. The remaining two months are to address objections and for the ECI’s internal paperwork. Within this one month, the ECI expects that: all booth-level officers (of whom 20,000 have not even been appointed yet) will be trained; party agents will also be trained; new forms will reach every household; every individual will fill out their form; necessary documents will be attached; filled forms will be collected from every home; the data will be uploaded and its verification will have commenced!

Anyone whose form is not submitted by 25 July will not make it to the voter list. Period.

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Myth #9

Fact-check. If Bihar has a problem of illegal foreign nationals, it’s not primarily Bangladeshi Muslims — it’s mainly Nepali migrants from the Terai region, most of whom are Hindu. It’s possible the revision exercise will purge the voter rolls of a few thousand Bangladeshis and tens of thousands of Nepalis. But in the process, an estimated 2.5 crore bona fide Indian citizens could lose their right to vote. You don’t swat a fly with a sledgehammer.

#TheBitterTruth

Bihar has a population of around 13 crore. Of these, roughly 8 crore are adults who should be on the voter list. But only about 3 crore were on the 2003 list. The remaining 5 crore will now have to furnish documents to prove their citizenship. At least half of them — around 2.5 crore people — do not have the documents the ECI demands. Which means this ‘special intensive revision’ could snatch away the only right still available to the last person in the line — the right to vote.

Indians still have horror memories of the ‘notebandi’ (demonetisation) of November 2016 and of the ‘deshbandi’ (the Covid lockdown of March 2020). Are we now about to witness a ‘votebandi’, a mass disenfranchisement of Indian citizens?

 (<Translated with permission from the Hindi original)