Ranchi: Nearly one in every six voters in Jharkhand don’t figure in the draft electoral roll published on Wednesday after the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with 43.62 lakh names — 16.48% of the state’s pre-revision electorate — missing from the list.“The draft roll has 2.21 crore electors, down from 2.64 crore in the pre-SIR roll,” chief electoral officer K Ravi Kumar said. However, Election Commission clarified that the omission of a name from the draft does not constitute its final deletion.Eligible electors left out of the list can seek inclusion by filing claims until Sept 4. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on Oct 7.Of the electors whose enumeration forms could not be collected, 15.92 lakh were categorised as permanently shifted and 14.50 lakh as absent or untraceable. Another 7.64 lakh were reported dead, 4.39 lakh were identified as duplicate voters or as being enrolled elsewhere, and 1.16 lakh allegedly refused to sign their enumeration forms.“Together, these categories account for 43.62 lakh uncollectable enumeration forms,” Kumar said. He added that the lists had been shared electronically with polling booths and booth level agents (BLAs) of political parties, while hard copies would be made available on Thursday.“People whose names figure on the omitted list of electors can submit the prescribed forms with the help of booth level officers (BLOs) or apply online,” he said. EC said an eligible elector missing from the draft roll can apply by submitting Form 6 along with the required declaration.The SIR data shows a particularly high concentration of absent or untraceable voters in some urban constituencies. Nearly 1.30 lakh electors were placed in this category in Hatia, while the corresponding figure for Ranchi was more than 1.15 lakh.Special enrolment drives will be held at polling booths on Aug 8 and 9 and Aug 22 and 23. Besides assisting omitted electors, the camps will enroll first-time voters and eligible residents temporarily living outside Jharkhand who want to remain registered in the state.“We are also focusing on college-goers who will soon become eligible voters so that their names can be included,” Kumar said.He said that more than 77,000 BLAs nominated by recognised political parties participated in the enumeration exercise. Election officials also held over 845 meetings with political stakeholders at different administrative levels.
