Large number of Nepalese, Bangladeshis found in Bihar’s intensive revision of voter list

Election Commission officials in Bihar have identified numerous illegal migrants from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar during a voter list review. Names will be excluded after verification post-August 1. A nationwide electoral roll revision is planned to detect foreign nationals

New Delhi: Field-level functionaries of the Election Commission have found “a large number of people” from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar during house-to-house visits made for the ongoing intensive review of voters’ list in Bihar, officials said on Sunday.

They asserted that the names of illegal migrants will not be included in the final electoral roll to be published on September 30, after proper enquiry of such people is conducted after August 1.

Citing ground reports, EC officials said that during house-to-house visits “a large number” of people from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been found by booth-level-officers. The Election Commission will eventually carry out a special intensive revision of electoral rolls across India to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth.

Bihar is going to polls this year, while Assembly polls in these five other States — Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal — are scheduled in 2026.

The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various States on illegal foreign migrants, including from Bangladesh and Myanmar.