PATNA, Sept. 1 -- All India Congress Committee (AICC) media department head Pawan Khera on Sunday claimed that the Congress party had submitted approximately 8.9 million claims and objections to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding "irregularities" in Bihar's voter lists during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise. The ECI, however, stated that all claims, which were for deletion of names, have been rejected as the party's functionaries didn't file them in the prescribed format. Alleging that the irregularities cast a doubt on the intention of the ECI, Khera demanded that the commission shall verify the claims and objections by conducting door-to-door survey again. Speaking to the mediapersons at Sadaquat Ashram -- headquarter of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) -- a day before the culminating event of the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Patna, Khera said that his party workers - both Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and district presidents - had filed to correct anomalies like discrepancy allotment of Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers, forceful deletion of names for want of documents, removal of names citing not present at the address, and other irregularities like mis-spelt names of legitimate voters. Khera alleged that the EC officials in Bihar refused to admit such complaints. He added that the officials first denied receiving complaints through the BLAs, which prompted the party to lodge them through the district committee presidents. The district committee presidents helped the electors, who were facing the SIR heat, to file such complaints with district election offices. "When our BLAs went to file complaints, their complaints were turned down by the EC. The EC categorically told our BLAs that complaints could be accepted by individuals only, not by political parties," Khera claimed. Displaying receipts of these submissions, Khera underscored the scale of the issue, pointing to thousands and millions of duplicate EPIC numbers. "The ECI must conduct door-to-door verification to eliminate gross discrepancies in the voter list," he insisted, emphasising that the campaign, led by leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, aims to ensure transparency and curb what he described as "vote theft" that undermines democratic rights. Khera highlighted a disturbing pattern in voter deletions of around 6.5 million voters, alleging that 7,613 polling booths saw 70% of women voters' names removed, while 635 booths had 75% of women electors eliminated, purportedly due to migration. He questioned the rationale, noting that in Bihar, men are more likely to migrate for work, leaving families behind. Additionally, he claimed that over 100 voters were removed from each of 20,368 booths, and 50-plus names were deleted from 5,239 booths on grounds of "not found at the address." These deletions, Khera argued, have caused significant hardship, as affected voters struggle to obtain essential documents like residential proofs and caste certificates due to their removal from electoral rolls. In response,the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar, denied the charges, saying, "Till date, no BLA authorised by any district president of the Indian National Congress in Bihar has submitted any claim (Form 6) or objection (Form 7) on any name in the draft electoral rolls published on August 1 in the prescribed format so far". On the allegations of duplicate voters in the draft rolls, the CEO's office said in a statement that the current draft rolls published under the SIR are not final. "They are explicitly intended for public scrutiny, inviting claims and objections from electors, political parties, and all other stakeholders," it said. Any alleged duplication at the draft stage cannot be construed as a "final error" or "illegal inclusion," as the law provides a remedy through the claims/objections period and subsequent verification by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), it said. Later, the EC issued another press statement. It said that district presidents of Congress had submitted "letters for deletion of names of 89 lakh voters from the electoral rolls". "As per rules of ECI, name deletions can be given through filling up of Form-7 and BLAs of any party could give a petition in a proper format with declaration," the statement said, while clarifying the points raised by Congress leaders in a press conference on Sunday. The ECI also said that the Supreme Court in its directive on August 22 had stated that 12 recognised political parties having any noticed discrepancies in the draft rolls should give claims/objection in a proper format. "The figure of 89 lakh is big. Before deleting the names, the EROs would take a declaration from the Congress district presidents as per registration of electors rules and on the basis of their discretion, would take a call on this," said the statement. Responding to the EC reply, Khera said that it was "a wrong statement" and the Congress didn't bid to file complaints/claims for deletions of names but for the reasons as stated by him in his press conference. "We have asked for correction of certain anomalies like wrong names put in electoral rolls of voters, errors in addresses and also appearance of duplicate names, etc," said Khera. He demanded urgent action from the ECI to verify the complaints and address discrepancies in the electoral rolls....