NEW DELHI/PATNA: Disregarding opposition parties’ protests against its move to conduct a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar – requiring submission of citizenship proof by electors enrolled after 2003 – Election Commission has started the exercise in the state’s 243 constituencies, with 98,450 booth level officers set to conduct door-to-door verification over the next one month.EC will treat the state’s 2003 electoral roll – which has listed 4.9 crore electors – as probative evidence of eligibility, including pres-umption of Indian citizenship unless it receives any input otherwise.

Voters must submit from set of 11 government documents to prove eligibility Any person whose name is not recorded in the 2003 roll will be required to submit from among a set of 11 eligible government documents to establish his/her eligibility as an elector. As of date, Bihar has around 7.9 crore electors.EC on Saturday justified the purpose of SIR by citing Article 326 of the Constitution, which specifies that only Indian citizens above 18 years of age and ordinary resident in that constituency are eligible to be registered as electors. To justify the timing, EC sources said Section 21(2)(a) of Representation of the People Act, 1950, and Rule 25 of Registration of Elector Rules, 1961, make revision of electoral roll mandatory before every election/byelection, unless otherwise directed by EC for reasons to be recorded in writing.EC’s statement on pursuing SIR in Bihar as per schedule, came a day after opposition INDIA bloc’s members criticised the timing of the revision and alleged that the exercise was a veiled attempt to disenfranchise sections of the electorate in order to favour the ruling alliance. “The Constitution is supreme. All citizens, political parties and EC follow the Constitution,” the poll panel said, while asserting that “all activities relating to SIR (in Bihar) are progressing well as per schedule”. Printing and door-to-door distribution of new enumeration forms for the existing electors has already started in each of the 243 assembly constituencies of the state. Of the existing electors in Bihar, 4.9 crore already figure in the 2003 electoral roll, and will simply have to fill the enumeration form and submit it to the BLO.For those not in the 2003 roll, citizenship proof will be collected along with the enumeration form.