The Election Commission (EC) has distributed enumeration forms to around 94% of potential voters but has only managed to collect just over 14% of them in the first 10 days of the 30-day Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
According to data from the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), there is also a significant gap in the number of forms uploaded with only around 24 lakh of the 1.12 crore being uploaded.
According to the data, enumeration forms were handed out to 7,38,89,333 of the 7,89,69,844 voters enrolled.
The data also shows that 23,90,329 forms have been uploaded on the system, of which Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) have uploaded 23,14,602 while 75,789 voters directly uploaded them through online channels.
Vaishali district leads the list in terms of BLO submissions with 1.76 lakh forms followed by Patna and East Champaran with 1.61 lakh and 1.43 lakh respectively. Nalanda with 1.32 lakh and Samastipur with 1.03 lakh forms make up the top five districts in terms of submissions.
The EC has said that 77,895 BLOs are conducting door-to-door drives to help “electors fill out the enumeration forms” and claims that in many cases, “photographs are being taken for immediate uploads”.
A senior EC official said over 20,000 additional BLOs have been pressed into service to ensure the timely completion of the drive. “They (BLOs) are being supported by around over 1.5 lakh booth-level agents in addition to the 4 lakh volunteers, including government servants, NCC cadets and NSS members to assist the elderly, persons with disabilities and vulnerable groups,” the official added.
With regard to voter-initiated uploads, Patna topped the list with 8,348 forms followed by Gopalganj (7,791), Nalanda (4,178), Madhubani (4,353)and Muzaffarpur (3,645).
On the other hand, the worst performing district in terms BLO submissions were Lakhisarai with 4,132 forms with Buxar (13,472), Kaimur (17,258), Munger (18,105) and Sheohar (21,870) making up the top five. Sheohar was also the worst performing with regard to voter-based submissions with just 447 forms being submitted followed by Madhepura (469), Kaimur (523), Lakhisarai (542) and Sheikhpura (613).
Vaishali district also topped the list in the collective (BLO and citizen-initiated) submissions with over 1.78 lakh forms being submitted. It was followed by Patna with 1.69 lakh forms, East Champaran with 1.46 lakh forms, Nalanda with 1.37 lakh forms and Samastipur with 1.05 lakh forms. Lakhisarai with 4,674 forms, Buxar (14,415), Kaimur (17,781), Munger (19,532) and Sheohar (22,317) made up the bottom five.
In terms of collection percentage too, Vaishali was at the top of the list with 25.83% forms being collected. It was followed by Supaul (22.46%), Nawada (22.29%), Kaimur (21.98%), and Arwal (20.54%). The lowest collection percentages were seen in Saharsa (6.43%), Katihar (7.54%), Aurangabad (8.18%), Lakhisarai (8.93%) and Madhubani (9.39%).
Bihar CEO Vinod Singh Gunjiyaal said the EC is actively collaborating with all stakeholders to spread awareness among voters and ensure no eligible voter is left out.
A total of 239 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 863 Assistant EROs, 38 District Election Officers (DEOs), along with the state CEO are involved in the drive.
