The Congress has raised questions over a sudden rise in Bihar’s voter numbers, pointing out that the Election Commission (EC) had announced 7.42 crore voters on October 6 while publishing the poll schedule, but post-poll releases showed the figure had climbed to 7.45 crore.

Election Commission officials responded on Saturday, explaining that the 7.42 crore figure was based on the final electoral roll published on September 30 following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

Under election rules, any eligible citizen can apply to have their name included in the electoral roll up to ten days before the last date for filing nominations for each poll

phase. Applications received from October 1 until this deadline were processed, adding nearly three lakh voters to the roll.

“After examining

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