Ranchi: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Jharkhand has triggered a procedural controversy after the chief electoral officer (CEO) flagged residential certificates allegedly issued exclusively for the revision, outside the prescribed govt process.CEO K Ravi Kumar has directed Giridih deputy commissioner and district election officer to probe a residential certificate issued by the Dumri circle office and take action against officials if it is found to have violated rules.Speaking to TOI on Wednesday, Kumar said any certificate submitted for electoral purposes must be issued by a competent authority, follow the state prescribed procedure and be in the approved format. “If there is a violation, that will not be accepted,” he said.The controversy centres on a residential certificate issued by the Dumri circle office on Sept 5. The document reportedly states that it is “valid only for SIR”, raising questions over the authority and process under which it was issued.In a letter to the circle officer, the CEO’s office sought a point-wise explanation on why a separate format was used despite existing state and central govt procedures for issuing residential certificates. It also asked whether any authority had approved SIR-specific certificates and whether mandatory verification of genealogy and family records had been carried out.The letter questioned the role of revenue officials who recommended the certificate despite the apparent absence of any such provision. It also sought details on compliance with the state govt’s Aug 27 directive on converting offline certificates into the online system.The circle officer has been asked to respond within three days. A compliance report has been sought within five days if violations are established. Kumar said similar instances were detected in Sahibganj and Giridih and clarified that such certificates would not be treated as valid by the Election Commission formally.Kumar on Wednesday chaired a video conference training and query resolution session for electoral registration officers, assistant EROs and additional EROs from districts to guide them about claims and objections and document verification. Neeraj Kumar, director, UIDAI regional office, Ranchi, trained them on technical and procedural aspects of Aadhaar verification and answered their questions. The CEO asked election officials to brief field personnel, ensure uniform implementation, avoid confusion, meet deadlines and coordinate.
