NEW DELHI/PATNA, July 7 -- The Election Commission on Sunday said that there was "no change in instructions" for the electoral roll revision exercise being conducted in Bihar, hours after an advertisement in local papers in the morning suggested tat voters can get verified even without submitting the mandatory documents. In a statement, the state chief electoral officer made it clear that while voters were required to "submit their documents anytime before July 25, 2025", those who failed to do so would get an opportunity "during the Claims & Objections period also". The EC also urged people to "beware of statements being made by a few persons, who without reading the SIR order dated 24 June 2025.... are attempting to confuse the public with their incorrect and misleading statements". The EC on June 24 issued instructions to carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, in a bid to weed out ineligible names and ensure only eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll. The advertisement on the front pages of the local papers earlier said, "If you are unable to provide the required documents, the ERO can take a decision on the basis of local investigation or other documentary evidence", and presenting the documents will make it "easier for the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) to process the application". The state is due to go to polls later this year. Reacting to the advertisement, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X that "now only forms are to be filled. There is no need to submit documents". Alleging that the SIR was a "conspiracy by BJP-RSS to snatch away the voting rights of Dalits and other deprived sections", Kharge said that the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is part of the NDA government in Bihar, "is now getting trapped in its own master plan". Echoing Kharge's post on X, Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar alleged at a press conference: "The ad exposes the incompetence of the EC and gives rise to doubts of unethical help extended to the ruling party." CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya sought to dismiss the advertisement as a "deceptive relaxation", arguing that "the predictably slow progress of the SIR has forced the EC to think of this immediate escape route". Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and leader of opposition in the state assembly Tejashwi Yadav also questioned why the exercise was confined only to Bihar, unlike the 2003 national revision. Amid the controversy, state CEO Vinod Singh Gunjiyal said in a post on X, ".the draft electoral rolls that will be issued on 1 August 2025 will contain the names of the existing electors whose enumeration forms are received." "All measures are being taken to facilitate the existing electors to complete the documentation. These existing voters will have time to submit the documents even after first submitting their Enumeration Forms. All activities are exactly as per ECI's order dated 24.06.2025," said the CEO. EC officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "People should beware of statements being made by a few persons, who without reading the SIR order dated 24 June 2025, who in tandem, and who are orchestrating and attempting to confuse the public with their incorrect and misleading statements." Further clarifying the reason for the advertisement, an EC official in Bihar said that it was issued to push the voters to submit the enumeration forms even if they don't have the documents. "It was also aimed at informing the BLOs that seeking documents is not mandatory at the time of submission of the forms," the official said. Point 3 of the SIR guidelines issued on June 24 on house-to-house enumeration mandates that each voter should submit the enumeration form with the self-attested documents to prove their citizenship. The next section, on preparation of the draft electoral roll, says that the EROs will prepare the draft electoral rolls based on the enumeration forms. Point 5 further says that after publication of the draft electoral rolls, ERO/AERO shall scrutinise the eligibility of proposed electors and in case they doubt the eligibility of the proposed elector (due to non-submission of requisite documents or otherwise), they will start a suo motto inquiry and issue notice to such proposed elector. The officer said those without documents can submit the forms to BLOs or online before July 26. "During the claims/objections, the ERO will take a call on these applications and there will be physical verification of such electors to ascertain whether they are present at the place of address or not. Electors can submit the documents during claims/objections period," the official said. The 11 documents being accepted include birth certificates, passports, education certificates, permanent residence, forest rights, and caste certificates, the family register prepared by State and local authorities, land or house allotment certificates issued by the government, as well as documents issued to government employees or pensioners, and other documents issued by a range of public authorities before 1967. "The initial phase of SIR, during which Enumeration forms were to be printed and distributed, is almost complete with the forms having been made available to all the electors who were available," the EC said....