Ranchi: The claims and objections window for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls closes on Tuesday, with election officials bracing for a last-minute rush after work remained suspended on Monday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.The rush comes as voters continue to approach booth level officers (BLOs) for inclusion, corrections and objections, with applications rising sharply in recent days.Data released by the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) showed that 16,224 Form-6 applications were received on Sunday, taking the state’s total to more than 4.70 lakh. Form-6 is used for inclusion of names in the electoral rolls.Bagodar recorded the highest number of Form-6 applications on Sunday at 673, followed by Dhanbad (519), Bhawanathpur (490), Madhupur (358), Hatia (351), Bishunpur (338) and Tundi (306).Applications for corrections and updates to existing entries also recorded a substantial increase. Ranchi district received 2,537 Form-8 applications on Sunday, taking its total to 51,005. It had recorded 48,468 applications up to Saturday — the highest district-level figure in the latest bulletin.Within Ranchi district, Hatia accounted for the highest number of Form-8 applications at 20,415, followed by Kanke (9,522), Khijri (5,693) and Ranchi (4,356).Chatra emerged as the main centre for Form-7 applications, which relate to objections and requests concerning shifting or deletion of names from an earlier place of residence. Of the 5,576 Form-7 applications received in the state up to Saturday, Chatra accounted for 2,369, including 2,301 from Chatra assembly constituency and 68 from Simaria.CEO K Ravi Kumar said the figures should not be construed as confirmed deletions, as Form-7 covers applications and objections that must be examined before any decision is taken.However, some voters who appeared for hearings said they had no way of independently checking whether their cases had been cleared. “There should have been a system, such as a message, to inform voters about the status after hearings,” said Khelgaon resident Anand Sarawgi, who had submitted documents over a mapping related issue.Till Saturday, Jharkhand had received 4,70,542 Form-6, 2,98,871 Form-8, 5,576 Form-7 and 84 Form-6A applications. Another 16,224 Form-6, 12,899 Form-8, 99 Form-7 and three Form-6A applications were received on Sunday.The claims and objections are to be disposed of in Oct. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on Oct 19.
