ECI Allows Voter Form Submission Without Documents Amid Bihar Roll Revision Row –

Amid the political controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar, the Election Commission of India has given big relief to voters by stating that those without any documents can still submit enumeration forms online or offline.
 This facility comes at a time when complaints were received from various parts of the state that many voters lack the 11 types of documents specified by the ECI to be submitted along with enumeration forms.
 
Among the 11 types of specified documents it includes identity cards, pension pay order issued by centre, state government and public sector undertakings, birth certificates issued by competent authority, passport, matric or other educational certificate issued by recognised boards or universities.
 
Residential certificates, caste certificates  by competent authorities have been, land possession certificates have been also recognised among 11 specific documents.
 
In an official announcement released by the Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar it has been said that those without any of these documents can submit their forms to Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The verification of these documents will be conducted later by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) based on local inquiries and other evidence.
 
Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, the Special Intensive Revision  drive is being vigorously conducted across all 243 Assembly constituencies in the state.
 
A similar exercise was carried out in 2003, based on which the voter list was published. Over 4.96 crore voters included in the 2003 list have already been exempted from submitting any documents in the present drive of SIR.
 
According to recent special summary revision data, the number of voters in the state is more than 7.80 crore. However, the Commission has urged those who possess any of the 11 specified documents to submit them with enumeration forms.
 
Opposition parties like the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and Left parties have strongly opposed the SIR campaign, while the ruling coalition, including the BJP, Janata Dal (United), and other parties, has supported it.
 
The last date of submission of enumeration forms is 26th July and so far 1.69 crore enumeration have been collected from voters under Special intensive revision which was started in Bihar from 25th June.