The Election Commission is preparing to issue new voter ID cards to all electors in Bihar after the completion of the ongoing special summary revision of the electoral roll. Officials confirmed that every voter in the state will be given a new identity card featuring the latest photograph submitted during the revision process. However, the final decision on the exact timeline for distribution is still pending.
During the verification exercise, voters were asked to submit filled forms along with updated photographs, which will be used to update records and generate the new cards. According to the draft voter list published on August 1, Bihar has 7.24 crore registered voters. The final roll will be published on September 30, ahead of the state assembly elections expected in November. The current assembly term ends on November 22.
Officials said that 99 percent of voters have already submitted their documents. Around 30,000 applications have been received from people whose names were missing from the draft list. Bihar has also become the first state to implement rationalisation of polling stations to reduce crowding. Under this process, the voter limit per booth has been cut from 1,500 to 1,200, increasing the number of polling stations from 77,000 to 90,000. The Election Commission plans to extend this model across India, which had 10.5 lakh polling stations in the last Lok Sabha elections.
