Bihar- Patna : As Bihar prepares for its upcoming Assembly elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has begun large-scale logistical and administrative preparations, including the deployment of nearly 5.5 lakh polling personnel across the state. However, the process has sparked political tensions due to a massive revision of the electoral rolls.
Over 90,712 polling stations will be set up across Bihar, a significant jump from approximately 78,000 in the last election. The increase is attributed to the Election Commission’s mandate of limiting each polling booth to a maximum of 1,200 voters, thereby requiring more stations — and more staff.
Polling personnel will include presiding officers, polling officers, sector magistrates, and micro observers. District Magistrates are finalising staff lists, which will be digitised for randomized deployment. A reserve pool of personnel is also being arranged for emergency replacements. Training will be conducted in three phases, focusing on Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) operations, electoral protocols, and documentation. Master trainers are being groomed at the state headquarters to conduct these sessions.
To meet staffing requirements, state government employees will be joined by central government staff, whose names have been sought from district-level offices.
Meanwhile, the ECI is coordinating closely with security agencies to ensure peaceful polling. The Bihar Police Headquarters has assessed the requirement for central paramilitary forces and has forwarded its recommendations to the Union Home Ministry. Adequate deployment of state police personnel is also being arranged.
However, the electoral preparations have not been without controversy. A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, currently underway, has led to the deletion of nearly 65 lakh names from the state’s electoral lists. The move has triggered strong reactions from opposition parties, who allege irregularities in the process.
The Congress party claims it submitted over 89 lakh objections concerning the removal of voters, and has demanded that no legitimate voter be disenfranchised. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) CPI-ML have also raised concerns, urging the Election Commission to bring greater transparency to the verification and deletion process.
The ECI has defended the revision exercise as routine, aimed at removing duplicate entries, deceased individuals, and names of those who have migrated. But opposition parties argue that genuine voters — especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds — may have been disproportionately affected.
As the election date draws closer, the voter list controversy is shaping up to be a major political flashpoint between the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc, setting the stage for a heated electoral battle in Bihar.
