The Election Commission has launched a month-long Bihar voter enrolment drive to identify and register eligible citizens who are not on the electoral rolls, including newly eligible youth, homeless people, labourers and residents of weaker sections, according to a communiqué from the office of the state chief electoral officer.
The campaign will be implemented through special camps at polling booths and door-to-door verification by booth-level officers (BLOs). Officers will identify people who have been left out of the electoral rolls and help eligible applicants complete Form-6, the prescribed application for new voter registration.
Before any identified person is registered, BLOs will show the relevant lists to booth-level agents of recognised political parties. Electoral registration officers will also share booth-level lists of enrolled voters with party representatives, according to the communiqué.
The outreach locations will extend beyond regular polling stations. Camps will also be held in night shelters, labour colonies and areas where homeless people and economically weaker residents live. The arrangement is intended to bring registration facilities closer to people who may face difficulties accessing formal administrative offices or polling locations.
The exercise comes as Bihar prepares for elections to four graduate constituencies and four teacher constituencies of the legislative council. The graduate constituency of Tirhut has the largest electorate among the four graduate seats, with 1.43 lakh voters, according to the figures cited in the report.
Together, the four graduate constituencies have 4.92 lakh electors, comprising 3.55 lakh men, 1.37 lakh women and 34 transgender voters. The four teacher constituencies have 40,253 voters. The legislative council polls for these constituencies are scheduled for October 23.
The month-long campaign will require BLOs and electoral registration officers to combine field verification with scrutiny of applications and coordination with recognised political parties. The state chief electoral officer’s office has not provided further details in the supplied communiqué on the number of people expected to be added to the rolls or the exact schedule of individual camps.
