Bihar: Not a Single Name Deleted on Grounds of ‘Infiltrator’ After SIR in Seemanchal

Patna: Contrary to political allegations by ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and widespread rumours and fear that a large number of ‘infiltrators’ from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar have made their way into the voter lists in Seemanchal region in Bihar, not a single infiltrator voter's name was found and deleted in the much-publicised draft  of electoral rolls released by the  Election Commission (EC) on August 1, after the completion of the first phase of its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in July 2025.

Bihar's Seemanchal, comprising Kishanganj, Purnea, Katihar and Araria districts, are primarily Muslim-dominated, economically backward and known for high poverty, unemployment and livelihood migration.

"Not a single voter’s name was deleted on the ground of alleged infiltrators from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. During the SIR no such voters were identified and traced", a senior EC official associated with SIR ahead of upcoming Bihar Assembly election told this writer.

He said a total of 7.6 lakh voters’ names were deleted in Seemanchal for other reasons but not on the ground of being infiltrators.

“The EC has deleted name of voters who were found dead, had permanently shifted elsewhere and had names in two places”, he added.

A Booth Level Official (BLO) in Jokihat in Araria, Abdul Gaffar (name changed), said he and dozens of his colleagues involved in the SIR exercise did not come across any infiltrator's name in the voter’s list. "We have not found a single infiltrator in my area during the SIR exercise. If there are infiltrators, it is the job of police and local administration to take action”, added Gaffar, a government school teacher.

According to official EC data of the newly released draft of the electoral rolls, 1,58,072 voters names were deleted in Araria district, 1,45,668 in Kishanganj district, 2,73,920 in Purnea district, and 1,84,254 in Katihar district. 

As per official data, the highest number of 49,340 voters’ names were deleted in Kishanganj Assembly seat and lowest 29,277 voters’ names were deleted in Thakurganj Assembly seat in Kishanganj. These are two of the 24 Assembly seats in Seemanchal's four districts. 

According to official data of the last Census   Kishanganj has 68% Muslim population, Katihar has 44% Muslim population, Araria has 43% Muslim population and Purnea has 38% Muslim population.

A total of 65 lakh voters names were deleted in Bihar, it was revealed by the draft electoral rolls released by the EC. The highest number of 3.95 lakh names were deleted in Patna district alone, and nearly 3 lakh each in three other districts of East Champaran, Madhubani and Gopalganj.

The draft has names of 7.24 crore voters. Before SIR, there were 7.89 crore name in electoral list.

Last month, during the much-publicised SIR exercise, a report surfaced, citing unnamed field-level officials of the ECI involved in the SIR, claiming that ‘infiltrators’ were found in the voter lists in Seemanchal region bordering Nepal. This triggered a heated debate over alleged infiltrators in the state.

After that, residents in Kishanganj and across Seemanchal expressed fears of disenfranchisement or being labeled 'illegal foreign immigrants' due to a lack of proper 11 listed documentation for SIR.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday (August 13) dared Union Minister Amit Shah to come out with a list of name of "ghushpaithiya" (infiltrators) deleted from the draft electoral rolls.

Tejashwi, who is also Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, accused Shah and other top BJP leaders for spreading lies as a part of their political agenda. The RJD leader, who has been aggressively questioning the SIR's exercise, said this in a reference Shah's last week visit to Bihar in which Shah alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders were opposing SIR because “infiltrators are their vote bank”.

Tejashwi said the BJP-led NDA was in power in the Centre for over 11 years, who stopped Amit Shah to identify and take action against infiltrators, if there are infiltratorsm as repeatedly alleged by him?

It is not the work of Election Commission to identify and trace infiltrators, he said.
 
"Has Election Commission of India given any name of infiltrators deleted in its affidavit to the Supreme Court of India in connection with hearing on SIR", he asked.

It is a fact that so far there has been no official confirmation or official data on the exact number of alleged infiltrators on Bihar's voter rolls.
But BJP leaders and other Right-wing organisations, like RSS, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, have always targeted Seemanchal and have been raising the infiltrators issue there. 

Political analysts here say the issue of infiltrators in Seemanchal has been used as a political tool to mobilise and consolidate Hindu voters by creating fear of rising population of Muslims, which is not  true.

 The fact is that local Hindi newspapers frequently report about the arrest of foreign nationals, particularly from China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and other countries, as they attempt to illegally enter India through various checkpoints along the India-Nepal border near Bihar.