Ranchi: Confusion over forms and documents sent electors and relatives of those living outside Ranchi scrambling between their homes and polling booths on Saturday, the first day of the second and final special camp for voter registration and correction of errors in enumeration forms.Despite extensive publicity by the Election Commission, many residents appeared unclear about the procedure and documents required to prevent deletions, map voter details and rectify discrepancies in the electoral roll.From first-time voters to senior citizens, residents across the city reached polling stations seeking help. Booth level officers (BLOs) and volunteers repeatedly called voters whose records had been flagged, but received a lukewarm response.Shabnam Parveen, a BLO in Khoratoli, said 66 of the 519 voters attached to her booth had been flagged for “logical discrepancies”, while 123 could either not be mapped or faced mapping-related problems.“I am calling voters to inform them about the corrections required, but most are not responding. Even many of those who answer do not understand what needs to be done,” she said.At Don Bosco School in Kokar, retired Indian Air Force personnel Nagendar Singh frantically searched for documents concerning his son, who is posted outside Ranchi and serves in IAF. Singh said he had received an EC notice and came to ensure that his son’s name was not deleted from the electoral roll and his details were mapped correctly.At a govt school in Khoratoli, volunteer Shama Naaz assisted BLOs at three polling booths and made repeated calls to voters who needed to correct their names, addresses, parents’ names and other details through Form 8. Few answered.“The response is poor,” she said, expressing frustration over the lack of interest among voters.Ram Kumar Mishra, a resident of Ayodhyapuri, rushed to his booth after the details of both his sons, Anurag and Aman, could not be mapped. He submitted Form 8 with the required documents, saying the same papers had already been provided during enumeration. “I cannot understand what went wrong,” he said.Chief electoral officer K Ravi Kumar had met representatives of recognised political parties on Friday and sought their cooperation in making the final special camp successful. The camp being held at polling stations will conclude on Sunday.
