The Wire’s analyses showed that a new Election Commission (EC) directive in Bihar threatens to disenfranchise an estimated 4.74 crore citizens. By demanding documents like matriculation certificates to revise voter lists, the directive places the burden of proof on the state’s most vulnerable – the poor, the landless, and those from the Dalit, extremely backward class (EBC) and Muslim communities. It should come as no surprise that these are the very groups which have long been cut off from the administrative and educational systems that issue such papers. In Numbers: Bihar Voter Roll Revision Risks Eroding Opposition Voter Base Where It Is Most Vulnerable - The Wire
The question is not just who might be excluded, but what their exclusion could mean for the state’s political balance. Could this administrative “purification” of voter rolls systematically alter election outcomes?
The data tells a clear story. The EC’s directive threatens communities defined by poverty, educational need and minority or Dalit status. These same communities form the political bedrock of the opposition MGB in a highly contested “vulnerable belt”.
Regardless of the EC’s stated intent to “purify” the lists, the data reveals a predictable consequence – a systematic erosion of the opposition’s vote base where it is most vulnerable. The result could be a redrawing of Bihar’s political map, not by the will of the people, but by an administrative pen.
This raises a fundamental question. How can a process be fair if its foreseeable result is to disenfranchise the most vulnerable and rewire political power?
by Pavan Korada
10/07/2025