38% of forms filled, EC hails 'smooth' SIR implementation

NEW DELHI: With over three crore filled enumeration forms - accounting for 38% of Bihar's 7.9 crore electorate - collected as of 6pm Monday, EC estimates that more than 75% of the state's voters would have submitted their completed forms in the next couple of days.

EC Monday said the enumeration forms received have already crossed the three-crore mark, with over 1.3 crore having landed in the last 24 hours alone. There are 18 days to go for the last date for submission.

Welcoming the "smooth implementation" of SIR on the ground, CEC Gyanesh Kumar told TOI, "All the 77,000 booth level officers and four lakh volunteers as well as 1.5 lakh booth level agents appointed by political parties are working actively as per the orders of SIR dated June 24, 2025". Another senior EC official added, "There is no confusion in the field and work is smoothly progressing".

EC Monday went pro-active by launching the #ECIFactCheck hashtag on its X handle, to counter the "many misleading news articles/posts relating to EC being circulated on social media". It followed up with counters to posts by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, psephologist-activist Yogendra Yadav and a few YouTubers/journalists, faulting SIR in Bihar. EC refuted Kharge's claim that SIR instructions were changed to clarify that no document is required and only filling the form is sufficient, saying that "SIR is being conducted as per orders dated June 24, 2025".

EC also said the apprehension that 75% of 2.5 crore electors may be disenfranchised was "baseless and misleading".