NEW DELHI: Ahead of SC hearing on special intensive revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls, opposition INDIA bloc on Sunday alleged it is an “exercise of exclusion”, questioning data released by Election Commission after SIR’s first phase that 66 lakh people might be excluded on grounds such as “deceased, permanently shifted or untraceable.“Congress functionary Abhishek Singhvi said EC should not show “institutional arrogance” with INDIA bloc parties from Bihar urging the poll panel to stop SIR as it will result in “large-scale disenfranchisement of poor and marginalised sections”. “Recent pressers of EC and refusal to accept Aadhaar, EPIC, and ration card as valid documents clearly point towards the fact that the entire SIR process is a citizenship verification process,” he alleged.EC responded by asking why opposition parties are trying to create “an impression that the draft list is the final list, which it is not, as per SIR order.” It said it is not able to understand the big fuss now, when a full one month period from Aug 1-Sept 1 is available to point out wrongful inclusion or wrongful exclusion of any name. “Why don’t the parties ask their not 1.6 lakh booth level agents to submit claims and objections from Aug 1-Sept 1 ?” it asked.Gearing up to step up the protests both inside and outside Parliament, Congress, RJD, CPM and CPI (ML)-Liberation leaders at a presser expressed fear that many more people will be excluded from rolls during the verification process ahead due to lack of documents like birth, caste and domicile certificates.RJD MP Manoj Jha said the whole SIR process is based on presumptions. “Clearly, opacity has become the hallmark of EC functioning,” Jha said. “There is no time or option for the right to appeal for people who will be excluded in the whole process. There are also numerous reports of people found alive who are included in the dead list,” he alleged.On the number of deceased, CPI (ML)-Liberation Dipankar Bhattacharya said, “Does this mean that in just six months, around 22 lakh people have passed away? So, does this mean the EC’s January 2025 summary revision was a flop?”