No evidence of disproportionate Muslim deletions in Bihar SIR

A booth-wise analysis of deletions showed that in about 490 of the more than 82,400 booths for which data were analysed, all the deleted electors were Muslims. However, a random check of 10 such booths showed that almost all electors in these booths were Muslims to begin with — meaning that all deletions being of Muslims was not an anomaly.

Among districts, nearly 65% of deleted electors were Muslims in Kishanganj — the highest share across the State. Notably, the 2011 Census recorded Muslims as 68% of Kishanganj’s population, a figure closely aligned with the deletion share. The share of Muslims in deleted electors was higher than 30% in Purnia, Araria and Katihar districts. And these are the next three districts for Muslim population share in State in the Census. Taken together, the district-wise analysis shows that Muslim deletions were broadly in line with their population share. The data indicates that the share of Muslims deleted is not disproportionate to their population size — no matter how the data are sliced.

In Kochadhaman (Kishanganj district) and Amour (Purnia district), more than 70% of electors deleted were Muslims. In the Assembly constituencies of Bahadurganj, Jokihat, Baisi, and Balrampur, the share was between 60% and 70%. In Kishanganj, Thakurganj, Pranpur, and Araria, over 50% to 60% of deleted electors were Muslims. The map below shows the constituency-wise share of Muslims among those deleted in the SIR.