‘We will not step back from our constitutional duty’: Key highlights from CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s Bihar voter list briefing

Election Commission of India

In a press conference held on Sunday, the Election Commission of India asserted that it is committed to fulfilling its constitutional rights and would not step back from it and also reaffirmed that utmost transparency is being executed in all poll-related processes on the ground.

What did the Election Commission say?

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, "As per the Constitution of India, every citizen of India who has attained the age of 18 years must become a voter and must also vote. You all know that, as per the law, every political party is born through registration with the Election Commission. Then how can the Election Commission discriminate among the same political parties? For the Election Commission,all are equal. No matter who belongs to any political party, the Election Commission will not step back from its constitutional duty."

He further said that the doors of the poll body are always open for everyone equally. "At the ground level, all the voters, all the political parties and all the booth-level officers are working together in a transparent manner, verifying, signing and also giving video testimonials. It is a matter of serious concern that these verified documents, testimonials of the district presidents of political parties and the BLOs nominated by them are either not reaching their own state level or national level leaders or an attempt is being made to spread confusion by ignoring the ground reality," the ECI said.

He added, "The truth is that step by step all the stakeholders are committed, trying and working hard to make the SIR of Bihar a complete success. When more than seven crore voters of Bihar are standing with the Election Commission, then neither can any question mark be raised on the credibility of the Election Commission nor on the credibility of the voters."

Press conference major points

• The Chief Election Commissioner said that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process has begun in Bihar and around 1.6 lakh Booth Level Agents  have prepared draft voter lists at every booth, which were verified by representatives of all political parties with their signatures. So far, voters have submitted 28,370 claims and objections as part of this exercise.

• He raised strong objections to the misuse of voter data and noted that photos of voters were shown in the media without their consent. He questioned whether it was appropriate to publicise CCTV footage or personal details of voters and stressed that only those whose names are on the official voter list are allowed to cast their vote.

• Highlighting the transparency of the election process, he pointed out that over one crore employees, more than ten lakh booth-level agents, and more than twenty lakh polling agents are engaged in conducting Lok Sabha elections. With such a massive structure of checks and balances, the Commission argued, the idea of voters being able to “steal votes” is unfounded.

• On the issue of double voting, he said some allegations were made but no proof was ever produced. He made it clear that neither the Election Commission nor the voters of India fear such false accusations. He added that while some political narratives attempt to target voters by dragging the Election Commission into controversy, the EC will continue to stand firmly and fearlessly with all voters—rich or poor, men or women, young or old, across every community—without discrimination.

• Reaffirming the constitutional role of the EC, he underlined that every Indian citizen above 18 must be a voter and every political party is registered under the Commission. Therefore, the Election Commission treats all parties as equal and will never step back from fulfilling its constitutional responsibility.

• He also emphasised that utmost ground-level transparency is being maintained and pointed out that voters, political parties and Booth Level Officers are working together by signing, verifying, and providing video testimonials. He expressed concern that these verified documents and testimonials from district-level leaders and BLOs are not always reaching the state or national leadership of political parties, creating misinformation. However, he stressed that with more than seven crore voters in Bihar standing with the Commission, there can be no question on the credibility of the Election Commission or the voters themselves.

Election Commission press conference

The poll body's press conference came in the backdrop of allegations levelled by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, claiming discrepancies in the system and saying that multiple voters have more than one voter ID cards.

Gandhi has  also repeatedly accused the poll body of voter-data fudging and alleged that there was "vote theft" in Maharashtra, Karnataka as well as Haryana.