Oh, the horror! The Wire, in its latest tearjerker titled *“In Numbers: Bihar Voter Roll Revision Risks Eroding Opposition Voter Base Where It Is Most Vulnerable”* (July 10, 2025), has spun a tale so tragic it could make a Bollywood scriptwriter blush. According to their narrative, the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s voter rolls is a sinister plot to disenfranchise the poor, the marginalized, and—gasp!—the opposition’s voter base. But let’s wipe away the crocodile tears and look at some facts, shall we? Far from a villainous scheme, the ECI’s efforts to clean up the voter rolls are a necessary step to ensure India’s elections remain free, fair, and, frankly, Indian.
The Wire’s Vulnerability Index : A Fancy Spreadsheet for Fearmongering
The Wire introduces its self-proclaimed “Bihar Vulnerability Index,” a dazzling concoction of five indicators—poverty, educational deprivation, you name it—to paint Bihar’s 14-district belt as a political battleground teetering on the edge of electoral apocalypse. They claim the SIR, which demands documents like matriculation certificates, threatens to exclude 4.74 crore citizens, particularly Dalits, Muslims, and the extremely backward classes (EBCs). Sounds dire, right? Except, the ECI has made it clear that voters can submit forms without mandatory documents, and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) can verify eligibility through local inquiries or alternative evidence. So, where’s the crisis? Oh, right—it’s in The Wire’s fevered imagination, where every administrative action is a conspiracy to topple the Mahagathbandhan (MGB).(ECI allows more time for Bihar voters to provide documents under SIR)
Let’s talk numbers, since The Wire loves them so much. Bihar has 7.9 crore voters, and the SIR targets those not listed in the 2003 rolls—about 2.93 crore people—who must provide one of 11 documents to prove eligibility. The Wire wails that these documents are unattainable for the poor, conveniently ignoring that the ECI has deployed 78,000 booth-level officers (BLOs) and 20,000 more to assist, plus over a lakh volunteers to help vulnerable groups like the elderly and disabled. The deadline was extended, and voters can still file claims and objections until September 1, 2025. But sure, let’s pretend this is an impossible task designed to crush the downtrodden.
Illegal Voters? What Illegal Voters? Bangladesh isn’t in India.
Here’s where The Wire’s narrative really unravels. The ECI’s SIR is partly aimed at weeding out “foreign illegal immigrants” from the voter rolls, a concern backed by hard data. In 2016, then-Junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju told Parliament that India has 20 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, with Bihar’s Seemanchal region—Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar, and Purnea—being a hotspot due to its proximity to Bangladesh. These districts have seen “asymmetric population growth,” a polite way of saying illegal immigrants have blended in, sometimes with fake documents like Aadhaar. Posts on X even allege that parties like the Trinamool Congress have facilitated this by providing Aadhaar and voter IDs to illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas.
Voter rolls revision is legal, moral and essential. So, what’s the problem?
Aadhaar isn’t proof of citizenship. Then how does it fetch voting rights?
The Wire, however, seems to think it’s perfectly fine for non-citizens to vote in Indian elections. Why else would they downplay the ECI’s constitutional duty under Article 326 to ensure only Indian citizens cast ballots? When the world—from the U.S. to Europe—is cracking down on illegal immigration, India’s effort to protect its electoral integrity is somehow a scandal? Spare us the outrage. The Representation of the People Act, 1950, is crystal clear: only Indian citizens can vote. � votes for hire who shift their votes from one state to another as per elections. Recently, a person was caught with 24 voter IDs in a single jhuggi in Delhi where nobody resided—a textbook case of electoral fraud. The Wire’s silence on such shenanigans is deafening.
Vote Buying and Voter Shifting : The Real Threat The Wire Ignores
While The Wire frets over “vulnerable” voters, it conveniently sidesteps the rampant issue of vote buying and voter shifting. Political parties have long been accused of ferrying voters across states to pad electoral rolls in close races. In Bihar’s 2020 elections, 28 of the 86 seats in the “vulnerable belt” were won by margins under 5%, meaning even a few hundred fraudulent votes could flip results. The SIR’s door-to-door verification by BLOs is designed to catch such anomalies, like the Delhi case where 32 Aadhaar cards and 5 voter IDs were recovered from seven illegal Bangladeshis who voted in Indian elections. Yet, The Wire would have us believe the real victims are the opposition voters, not the integrity of India’s democracy.
The NRC Bogeyman : A Tired Trope
The Wire’s favorite scare tactic is to scream “National Register of Citizens (NRC)!” as if the SIR is a backdoor plot to deport millions. Newsflash: verifying voter eligibility isn’t the same as stripping citizenship. Former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami dismissed this NRC fearmongering, stating that ensuring only citizens vote is a basic electoral necessity. The Wire’s claim that the SIR “shifts the burden of proof” onto voters ignores that the 2003 rolls are the baseline, and those already listed just need to verify their status. For newer voters, the ECI’s flexible approach—allowing local inquiries or alternative documents—hardly screams oppression.
Bihar voter list row: Why EC’s special revision is facing political heat
The Wire’s Selective Outrage
The Wire’s article is a masterclass in selective outrage, cherry-picking data to paint the ECI as a villain while ignoring the elephant in the room: India’s elections must be for Indians only. The SIR is a long-overdue cleanup, not a conspiracy to disenfranchise the poor. With 20 million illegal immigrants potentially influencing votes, voter roll revisions are not just necessary—they’re essential. The Wire’s crocodile tears for “vulnerable” voters can’t drown out the need to stop vote buying, voter shifting, and non-citizen voting. So, let’s applaud the ECI for doing its job and tell The Wire to save its melodrama for the movies.
Voter rolls revision is legal, moral and essential. So, what’s the problem?
Author : Sandeep Gandotra, is a serial entrepreneur, startup founder, social media influencer and political analyst with 25 years of overall experience. Tweets at Sandeep Gandotra
