Final Bihar voter list to be published tomorrow; poll schedule announcement likely next week

New Delhi | The final electoral roll of Bihar is set to be published on Tuesday, with the Election Commission likely to follow it up with the announcement of the poll schedule of the key state next week.

The poll authority is visiting Patna on October 4 and 5 to take stock of the poll preparedness.

The schedule for the assembly elections is likely to be announced next week, sources said.

The first phase of the elections is likely to be held soon after the Chhath festival in late October.

Four hundred seventy observers are being deployed by the EC for Bihar and some assembly bypolls.

A briefing of general, police and expenditure observers is also set to take place here on October 3.

The term of the 243-member Bihar Assembly ends on November 22.

The last assembly elections in Bihar were held in three phases amid the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The final voter list of Bihar is being published following the conclusion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls which was held after a gap of 22 years.

The draft electoral rolls were published on August 1 and were open for "claims and objections" by individuals and political parties till September 1.

There were 7.24 crore electors in the draft rolls.

The SIR has come under sharp criticism from opposition parties who have claimed that it will disenfranchise crores of genuine citizens of their voting rights.

The Commission has asserted that it will not allow any eligible citizen to be left out of the voter list and at the same time not let any ineligible person be on the list.