The Vote for Democracy findings likely to kick up a storm on the credibility of the electoral process
NEW DELHI — Ahead of Parliament’s Budget Session starting January 28, a damning audit report on the recent Bihar Assembly elections is expected to reignite a fierce national debate on the credibility of India’s electoral process. Released by Vote for Democracy (VFD), Maharashtra—a concerned citizens’ collective—the 27-page report with graphic details lends fresh weight to the Opposition’s charge that the electoral mandate in Bihar was “stolen” through systematic manipulation carried out with the Election Commission of India (ECI) acting in concert with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Titled The Bihar Verdict 2025, the report is based entirely on official data released by the ECI, statutory law, constitutional provisions, and documented procedural anomalies. Its authors argue that what unfolded in Bihar was not a series of administrative lapses, but a coordinated, multi-layered subversion of the democratic process.
Curated by VFD under the guidance of former IAS officer and electoral reform advocate MG Devasahayam, along with Dr Pyara Lal Garg, Prof Harish Karnick, and computer science expert Madhav Deshpande, the report reconstructs the election using official timelines and numerical records. Its central claim is stark: the outcome of the Bihar Assembly election was shaped well before polling day—and altered even after voting had concluded.
At the core of the report’s findings is the Election Commission’s decision to carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls on June 24, 2025, barely months before the assembly polls. The move was unprecedented in both timing and scale, particularly in a state where electoral rolls have been under continuous revision since 2003 and where a Special Summary Revision had already been completed in January 2025.
According to the report, the ECI recorded no reasons, provided no empirical justification, and disclosed no transparent methodology for launching such a sweeping exercise so close to the elections. The authors argue that the SIR violated the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and fundamental constitutional guarantees under Articles 14, 19, 21, 325, and 326.
Most significantly, the report contends that the revision reversed a foundational principle of electoral law—shifting the system from a presumption of inclusion to a presumption of exclusion—effectively subjecting voters to a citizenship-style verification exercise without legislative sanction.
Mass Deletions and Implausible Numbers
Official ECI data cited in the report shows that Bihar’s electorate fell from 7.89 crore voters on June 24, 2025, to 7.24 crore by the publication of the draft rolls on August 1—a deletion of 65.69 lakh names in just over a month. The final roll released on September 30 listed approximately 7.42 crore electors.
Yet, the report notes that only 3.66 lakh voters were officially confirmed as ineligible, making the scale of deletions grossly disproportionate. In one of its most explosive findings, over 21.27 lakh voters were deleted between July 21 and 25—an administrative pace the authors describe as implausible by any standard.
During this period, 5.44 lakh voters were marked “dead,” 14.24 lakh “permanently shifted,” and the number of voters classified as “untraceable” rose by an astonishing 809% overnight. Despite illegal migration being cited as a justification for the revision, not a single “foreigner” was identified.
The report also flags glaring mathematical inconsistencies. While the ECI stated that around 17 lakh objections or applications were received, changes reflected in the rolls affected nearly 22 lakh entries. Even after accounting for corrections, the final voter count should have stood at approximately 7.38 crore. Instead, the ECI declared 7.42 crore electors—leaving an unexplained surplus of 3.24 lakh voters.
Post-notification Additions
Electoral norms require voter rolls to be effectively frozen once elections are notified. However, the report claims that Bihar’s electorate continued to grow even after notification—from 7.43 crore voters on October 6, 2025, to 7.46 crore by polling day.
According to the authors, 3.34 lakh voters were added in just ten days, including a sudden and unexplained spike in youth voters, raising serious questions about the sanctity of the rolls during the election period.
Structural Bias and Poll-Day Irregularities
Beyond voter rolls, the report highlights broader structural concerns. Polling booths increased sharply—from 77,462 during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to 90,740 in the Bihar Assembly polls—without corresponding expansion in remote or riverine areas. Constituency splits allegedly violated contiguity norms.
The Election Commission’s decision to stop publishing constituency-wise turnout data before counting, releasing only fragmented district-level figures, is cited as another blow to transparency. On the ground, the deployment of nearly 1.8 lakh Jeevika Didis—beneficiaries of state welfare schemes—as poll volunteers blurred the line between welfare delivery and election administration.
The report also documents a severe imbalance in Booth Level Agents, with opposition alliances averaging just 1.55 agents per booth, leaving large numbers of polling stations effectively unmonitored.
The ‘Midnight Hike’ and Razor-thin Margins
The most alarming allegation concerns a uniform 0.18% increase in voter turnout recorded across phases on the night of November 12, 2025. This identical rise for both male and female voters added 1,34,145 votes and, according to the report, altered outcomes in nearly 20 constituencies.
As many as 21 seats were decided by margins of just 0–15 votes. Despite this, no automatic VVPAT recounts were conducted. Additional red flags cited include CCTV failures, discarded VVPAT slips found on roads, unauthorised vehicles near strong rooms, and the alleged transport of around 6,000 voters from Haryana via special trains.
Crisis of Credibility
The authors conclude that the Bihar 2025 election cannot be dismissed as a case of isolated irregularities. Instead, they describe a systemic breakdown marked by legal departures, administrative opacity, data suppression, and post-poll manipulation.
“What is at stake,” the report warns, “is not merely the outcome of one state election, but the credibility of India’s constitutional promise of universal adult suffrage itself.”
As political tempers rise ahead of the Budget Session, the Bihar verdict has become a national flashpoint—raising uncomfortable questions about the independence of election institutions and the future of democratic accountability in India.
