When the Modi government notified the population enumeration and house listing phases for the 2027 Census, but not for updating the National Register of Population (NPR), it seemed the Bharatiya Janata Party had abandoned its 2019 idea of creating a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC). The NPR constitutes the foundational data for the NRC. Without the NPR updation, it was assumed the NRC exercise couldn’t be undertaken.

This assumption has been belied, with the Election Commission of India ordering a Special Intensive Revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls, last done in 2003. The ECI order is unprecedented, for it introduces a citizenship test for all those who were not in the 2003 rolls or have never been voters. They will have to submit one of the 11 documents the ECI has listed for proving their citizenship. 

Until now, people wanting to become voters were required to provide proof in support of their date of birth and place of residence. The new requirement will turn the revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls into an NRC-like operation, largely because of the ECI’s complex process of authenticating citizenship.