Ranchi: The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Jharkhand has entered a crucial phase, with 47,35,409 voters—nearly 17.9% of the state’s electorate—still remaining unmapped, prompting the Election Commission to intensify its verification drive across the state. Unless these electors complete the mandatory enumeration process within the stipulated timeline, their names may not appear in the draft electoral roll.
Official data released by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Jharkhand, shows that the state has 2,64,63,236 registered voters. Of these, 2,17,27,827 electors (82.11%) have already been successfully mapped through self or parental verification, while the remaining 47.35 lakh are yet to complete the process.
To ensure that no eligible voter is left behind, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are conducting an extensive door-to-door campaign from June 30 to July 29, distributing and collecting pre-filled Enumeration Forms across urban and rural areas. The Election Commission has appealed to voters to cooperate with BLOs and submit their signed forms without delay.
Chief Electoral Officer K. Ravi Kumar has clarified that every voter who submits the duly filled Enumeration Form during the ongoing exercise will be included in the draft electoral roll. However, voters who fail to submit the form before the draft roll is published may not find their names in the initial list. Such electors will still have an opportunity to seek inclusion during the claims and objections period before the final electoral roll is notified.
Amid growing speculation over the revision exercise, the CEO has also dismissed rumours that genuine voters are being arbitrarily removed from the electoral rolls. He reiterated that the objective of the SIR is to prepare a clean, accurate and error-free electoral database by identifying duplicate, deceased, permanently shifted and otherwise ineligible entries while ensuring that every eligible Indian citizen remains enrolled.
As part of its voter awareness campaign, the CEO’s office will organise ‘Chunav Pathshalas’ at polling stations across Jharkhand on July 14 to educate citizens about the SIR process, voter verification and submission of Enumeration Forms. Election officials have urged voters, particularly those whose names appear on the unmapped list, to complete the process well before the deadline to avoid any inconvenience during the publication of the draft electoral roll.
