The Election Commission’s special intensive revision of the electoral rolls of Bihar has cost Katihar daily wage labourer Phool Kumari Devi two days’ worth of earnings and five kilograms of rice.
“The BLO (Booth Level officer) had asked me for my Aadhaar card and voter ID card, and a passport size photo. I had no photo so I had to travel four kilometres to a photo studio. I had no money, so I had to sell rice I had got through the public distribution system. This meant that I had to stay without food,” said Phool Kumari Devi.
She said this at a public hearing organised in Patna on July 21 by several organisations including the Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, National Alliance of People’s Movement, Swaraj Abhiyan and Kosi Navnirman Manch.
Many people complained that they were asked for money to get their forms filled. Kanchan Devi is one of them.
The team from the Bharat Jodo Abhiyan released the outcome of a rapid survey conducted in eight districts in the first week of July.
For this, 709 people of 12 assembly segments were interviewed.
According to the survey report, voters of the 18-40 age group, who were not on the 2003 electoral rolls – an overwhelming majority of 63% – did not possess any of the 11 documents to qualify for eligibility. Most have Aadhaar and voter ID cards.
22/07/2025