The Election Commission of India on Tuesday said it has identified over 52 lakh discrepancies in Bihar’s electoral rolls as part of its ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive, revealing significant issues ahead of the draft roll publication scheduled for August 1.

The move comes as opposition parties have intensified their protest against the revision process. With only months to the state assembly elections, the move by ECI is predicted to create a huge burden on Bihar’s poor and marginalised groups, a substantial number of whom are migrants living outside the state.

According to a press note issued by the Commission, the ongoing revision uncovered 18.66 lakh deceased voters, 26.01 lakh voters who have permanently shifted, and 7.50 lakh voters enrolled in multiple constituencies. Additionally, 11,484 electors could not be traced at their registered addresses.

The total electorate in Bihar as of June 24 stands at 7.89 crore, the Commission said. Out of these, 90.67% have submitted their Enumeration Forms (EFs), and 97.3% of electors have been covered in the verification process so far. However, over 21 lakh forms remain unsubmitted, raising concerns of incomplete data and potential disenfranchisement.

Nearly 1 lakh booth-level officers (BLOs), along with 4 lakh volunteers and 1.5 lakh booth-level agents (BLAs) from 12 major political parties, have been engaged in the door-to-door verification campaign, ECI said.

Election officials have held consultations with representatives from political parties and shared detailed lists of the affected voters. A one-month window, from August 1 to September 1, will be open for the public to file objections, request deletions, or make corrections to the draft electoral rolls.

The Election Commission said the exercise is aimed at ensuring all eligible electors are accurately registered ahead of upcoming elections.

Over 10 petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging SIR, with the lead plea submitted by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms. Several political leaders, including RJD MP Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress’s K C Venugopal, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, CPI’s D Raja, Samajwadi Party’s Harinder Singh Malik, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, JMM’s Sarfraz Ahmed, and CPI (ML)’s Dipankar Bhattacharya, have also approached the court seeking suspension of the verification drive.