In Bihar&rsquo;s border district of Kishanganj, which shares boundaries with West Bengal and Nepal, only two electors were flagged as suspected &ldquo;non-citizens&rdquo; during the Election Commission&rsquo;s (EC) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.&nbsp;
However, both individuals made it to the final electoral roll published on September 30, as their objections were dismissed by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).
The SIR, launched on June 24, was an extensive exercise to prepare a fresh electoral roll &mdash; unlike the annual revision followed for the past two decades. 
All 7.89 crore registered voters in Bihar were asked to submit enumeration forms by July 25 to be included in the draft roll. 
When the draft roll was released on August 1, it listed 7.24 crore electors, with about 65 lakh names deleted &mdash; mostly those identified as dead, absent, permanently shifted, or enrolled elsewhere.
During the one-month claims and objections period ending September 1, Kishanganj saw only two objections citing &ldquo;not Indian citizen&rdquo; as the reason &mdash; both from the&nbsp;same polling booth and involving a man and a woman. 
Interestingly, both electors had filed self-objections, meaning their names appeared as both &ldquo;objector&rdquo; and &ldquo;objected to&rdquo; in the records. 
EC officials later suggested this might have been a data entry error.
Out of 1,905 deletion applications filed in Kishanganj, 830 cited &ldquo;permanently shifted,&rdquo; 489 &ldquo;already enrolled,&rdquo; 403 &ldquo;absent,&rdquo; and 181 &ldquo;death&rdquo; as reasons. 
The Bahadurganj, Thakurganj, and Kochadhaman Assembly constituencies reported no citizenship-based objections.
Despite BJP leaders frequently raising concerns about infiltration from Bangladesh into West Bengal and adjoining Bihar districts, data indicates no elector in Kishanganj was deleted on grounds of non-citizenship.
At recent public events, Union Home Minister Amit Shah defended the EC&rsquo;s SIR, linking population growth among Muslims to infiltration. 
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the inauguration of the Purnea Airport on September 15, asserted that &ldquo;infiltrators will have to leave.&rdquo;
However, Congress MP Mohammad Jawed from Kishanganj dismissed these claims, arguing that economic disparity drives migration out of Bihar, not into it.&nbsp;
&ldquo;When our per capita income is just $250 compared to Bangladesh&rsquo;s $2,700, who would want to come here?&rdquo; he told The Indian Express.
BJP district president Gopal Mohan Singh, on the other hand, said the SIR was vital to clean the rolls, especially to remove names of the deceased. 
&ldquo;Their population has increased in the last decade. In my village, far from the border, new settlements have come up where there used to be fields,&rdquo; he claimed.
Despite these political claims, the EC data confirms that no voter was deleted in Kishanganj on the grounds of being a &ldquo;non-citizen.&rdquo;

Election officials verify voter lists in Kishanganj

EC’s SIR in Kishanganj flags only two non-citizens, both included in final roll

Only Two ‘Non-Citizens’ Flagged In Kishanganj SIR

EC’s SIR in Kishanganj flags only two non-citizens, both included in final roll

October 13, 2025 | 23:11 IST