SIR riddle of Bihar for Congress

As Bihar approaches the 2025 Assembly elections, a massive political controversy has erupted over the Election Commission’s implementation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) a statewide voter list verification exercise launched on June 24, 2025. Touted as an administrative effort to clean electoral rolls, the SIR exercise has resulted in the deletion of over 65.6 lakh voters across Bihar, shrinking the electoral list from 7.89 crore to 7.24 crore within just a few weeks. According to official data, approximately 22 lakh voters were removed as deceased, 36 lakh marked as migrated or untraceable, and another 7 lakh as duplicate entries. However, these large-scale deletions, coupled with poor public outreach, opaque procedures, and disproportionate deletions in select districts, have raised serious concerns—especially for the Congress party, which is contesting 58 crucial seats as part of the INDIA alliance.

For the Congress party, the impact of SIR is not just administrative it’s electoral and existential in several key constituencies. The 58 seats Congress is contesting are primarily distributed across Seemanchal, Mithilanchal, Magadh, Champaran, and parts of Central and Urban Bihar regions where the party’s base includes Muslims, Dalits, migrant workers, OBCs, and urban poor. These are also the very categories of voters most likely to be affected by the SIR deletions due to address inconsistencies, seasonal migration, and historical underdocumentation. If even a small fraction of these deletions were misapplied or politically biased, they could swing tight contests especially in districts where the margin of victory was less than 5,000 votes in previous elections.

In the Seemanchal and Northeast Bihar region, districts like Kishanganj, Purnea, Katihar, and Araria are traditionally strongholds of the Congress and the INDIA bloc. This region includes several minority-dominated seats like Kishanganj, Kochadhaman, Bahadurganj, Amour, Jokihat, Rupauli, and Banmankhi all of which are believed to be among the 58 allocated to Congress. However, the impact of SIR here has been staggering: voter deletions in Purnea touched 12.1%, in Kishanganj 11.8%, and around 7.6% in Araria. These are not just numbers they represent tens of thousands of potential Congress votes, especially among Muslims and migrant communities. In areas like Amour and Jokihat, local BLOs reportedly conducted verification drives without adequately informing residents, leading to entire hamlets being left out of the revised rolls.

Moving westward into the Mithilanchal region, districts like Madhubani, Darbhanga, and Supaul form another crucial cluster for Congress. Here, Congress is likely to be contesting seats such as Laukaha, Ghanshyampur, Benipatti, Alinagar, and Triveniganj, where it has either a sitting MLA or a strong runner-up performance from 2020. But even here, the SIR deletions have been significant Madhubani district recorded a voter cut of 10.4%, while Darbhanga and Supaul were close behind. These regions are rural and rely heavily on seasonal migration to Delhi, Punjab, and Mumbai. Many voters were likely marked as “unavailable” during BLO visits due to temporary migration. As a result, Congress’s chances in this cluster are now under serious threat unless voters are mobilized aggressively during the ongoing claims period.

In Central Bihar and the Magadh region, Congress is focusing on reserved constituencies and semi-urban belts, particularly in Aurangabad, Gaya, Jehanabad, and Arwal. One example is Kutumba in Aurangabad district a SC-reserved seat currently held by Congress’s Bihar state president Rajesh Kumar. Other likely Congress-held or targeted seats in the region include Rafiganj, Tikari, and Kurtha. Though these districts saw slightly lower deletion averages around 7–8%, the nature of the deletions is still skewed against poorer Dalit and backward caste populations. These groups often lack documentary proof of address and are the most vulnerable during such revision drives. Congress’s fear is that if BLOs, often influenced by local power dynamics, carried out deletions selectively, their path to retaining these seats will be jeopardized.

In West and East Champaran, where Congress is eyeing key seats like Narkatiaganj, Raxaul, Nautan, and Harsidhi, the impact has been mixed. Some constituencies reported deletions between 6–9%, but anecdotal evidence suggests that low-income voters and slum dwellers in urban peripheries were targeted disproportionately. In these seats, where the margin of victory is narrow and caste alliances fragile, even a 2–3% loss in voter base could determine the result. Congress is also looking to consolidate its position in border constituencies with Nepal, where traditional linkages and cultural networks help mobilize voters. But the challenge will be to ensure those voters haven’t been silently deleted from the rolls.

In Urban and Peri-Urban Bihar, particularly around Patna, Bhagalpur, and Muzaffarpur, Congress has fielded educated and high-profile local candidates in urban SC, Muslim-dominated, or backward-caste-heavy constituencies. Constituencies like Raja Pakar in Vaishali and Bhagalpur town are likely among the 58 seats. But here too, the numbers are troubling Bhagalpur saw deletions of 10.2%, and Muzaffarpur around 9%. Most of the missing names are from urban labor clusters, slum wards, or migrant settlements again, traditional support bases for the Congress.

At the heart of the controversy lies a fundamental electoral dilemma. While the Election Commission insists that all deletions were legally conducted and verified, voter deletions in Congress-centric regions have consistently outpaced NDA strongholds. For instance, while Gopalganj (a BJP bastion) recorded deletion rates of up to 18% in some ACs, other NDA-controlled districts like Sheikhpura reported as little as 0.6%. The asymmetry in implementation is enough to fuel suspicion even without direct proof of political bias. Furthermore, many affected voters claim they were never contacted, never given time to respond, and were not informed their names were being deleted.

With the claims and objections period open until September 1, Congress has deployed its district units to conduct ground-level campaigns, help voters file Form 6 for re-enrollment, and prepare legal appeals where mass deletions are evident. However, given the scale and speed of the SIR deletions, it is unlikely that all affected voters will be restored in time. The Congress party’s electoral fate in many of its 58 seats now hinges on this one-month window and whether it can mobilize voters faster than they were erased.

In summary, the Special Intensive Revision has introduced a new layer of unpredictability into Bihar’s 2025 election. For Congress, the 58 seats it holds or aims to win are now under threat not just from political opponents but from administrative decisions that have quietly reshaped the electorate. The numbers may look like data, but in Bihar’s fragile caste and community matrix, 65 lakh deletions translate to a tectonic shift in electoral balance. Congress must now fight not just for votes, but for the very right of its voters to exist on paper before a single ballot is even cast.

Books that enriches – India after Gandhi by Ramchandra Guha | Contesting democratic deficit by Salman Khurshid | The election that surprised India By Rajdeep Sardesai

Mayur Gavture

Mayur Gavture is a Political Strategy Consultant and currently working as the legislative & Political Associate at the Office of Hon. Member of Parliament Shri Namdev Kirsan. He also has interests in Election Campaign , Legislative Policy – Advocacy & Governance Advisor.