No appeals filed after Bihar SIR: CEC Gyanesh Kumar

As controversy continues over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday (January 21, 2026) said no appeals were filed after the “purification of the electoral rolls” and no re-polls were required in Bihar, where the first phase of the exercise was conducted ahead of last year’s elections.

Delivering his inaugural address at the India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM) 2026, Mr. Kumar said that a “pure” voters’ list was the key to strengthening democracy.

Also Read: Supreme Court hearing on SIR updates

“Pure electoral rolls, including every elector as per law, are essential to strengthen democracy and for all the elections to be held based on the electoral rolls,” he said.

He said the electoral rolls in Bihar were revised amid intense public scrutiny, adding, “From purification of rolls to the conduct of elections, a great level of efficiency was achieved by the local poll machinery.”

“Bihar went for elections a few months ago. The first step was the purification of the electoral rolls, including eligible electors. That stage got completed, and under electoral laws, there is a provision for the voter of any Assembly segment to file an appeal, so that no wrong name gets included and no right name gets excluded. You will be amazed with the efficiency of the BLOs, the Electoral Registration Officers and the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar that out of 75 million electors, the number of appeals were zero,” he said.

“Another feat which was achieved in Bihar elections…there were nearly a lakh polling stations…how many re-polls were required — zero. That was the level of accuracy and efficiency attained by our returning officers, sectoral magistrates and presiding officers in each and every booth,” he said.

SIR phase II is being conducted in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Heads of 42 Election Management Bodies (EMBs) took part in the IICDEM plenary. The EMB Leaders’ Plenary is a forum that brings together heads and senior leaders of EMBs, along with Ambassadors/High Commissioners, for high-level exchanges on democracy and election management.

IICDEM-2026 is the largest conference of its kind ever hosted by India in the field of democracy and election management. India shared the thematic priorities as Chair of International IDEA for 2026, while EMB Leaders and country representatives discussed global challenges facing democracy and election administration.