Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday reaffirmed the Election Commission&rsquo;s commitment to impartiality, rejecting allegations of &ldquo;vote chori&rdquo; and stressing that political attempts to malign the poll body will not deter it from carrying out its constitutional duties transparently.
Calling the Bihar Special Intensive Review (SIR) exercise fully transparent, Kumar said that rumours are being spread despite draft voter lists already being shared with political parties. He added that either Booth Level Agents (BLAs) are not verifying the lists, or politics is being played to discredit the ECI.
&ldquo;There is no question of the ECI&rsquo;s image being tarnished as over seven crore voters and stakeholders stand firmly with the poll panel,&rdquo; Kumar said, terming misinformation campaigns as disrespect to the Constitution.&nbsp; <video style="width: 302px; height: 151px;" controls="controls" width="302" height="151"> <source src="https://ibp-benefits.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/prod/news/uploads/videos/1755435339364_vtMdKyOK4Ps-aS8g.mp4.mp4" type="video/mp4"></video> 
The remarks came as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav launched the &ldquo;Vote Adhikar Yatra&rdquo; in Bihar, alleging manipulation in the voter list.
Providing an update, Kumar informed that since August 1, more than one lakh new electors who turned 18 have applied for inclusion in the Bihar voter list. The election office has also received 28,370 claims and objections related to the SIR.
During the enumeration phase from June 24 to July 25, over 7.24 crore electors out of 7.89 crore submitted forms. After verification, around 65 lakh voters were found missing from the draft rolls published on August 1. This included 22 lakh deceased voters, 36 lakh who had shifted or were not found, and seven lakh enrolled in multiple places.
Opposition parties have raised concerns about irregularities in the process, but the poll panel has denied the charges, keeping a one-month window open for parties, voters, and BLAs to file corrections or objections.
As per data, the RJD has 47,506 BLAs, the Congress 17,549, and the Left over 2,000, totaling more than 67,000. The ECI has urged parties to actively participate in the revision exercise and submit complaints if genuine cases of exclusion arise.
The Commission also noted significant growth in BLAs across parties during the exercise: Congress increased its BLAs by 105 per cent to 17,549, RJD by one per cent to 47,506, JD(U) by 31 per cent to 36,550, and BJP by three per cent to 53,338. [Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by the Benefit News editorial team and is published directly from the IANS news feed]

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar

Gyanesh Kumar says ECI’s impartiality intact, calls Bihar voter list review transparent

CEC rejects ‘vote theft’ claims, defends ECI

Gyanesh Kumar says ECI’s impartiality intact, calls Bihar voter list review transparent

August 17, 2025 | 18:26 IST