Ranchi: State’s chief electoral officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar on Sunday directed all district election officers (DEOs) to step up efforts to enrol new and young voters under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.The direction came during a review of Form 6 applications, used for registration of new voters and inclusion of names in the electoral roll, received across the state’s polling stations.A polling station-wise review showed that 6,722 booths across the state had not received a single Form 6 application. Ranchi topped the list with 1,209 such polling stations, followed by Palamu (592), Hazaribag (572), Giridih (416) and Dhanbad (392).The number of polling stations that received only one to five applications stood at 1,243 in Dhanbad, 1,072 in Giridih, 981 in Ranchi, 936 in Palamu and 814 in Hazaribag. Kumar asked the DEOs of these districts to take serious note and conduct a special review of the booths concerned.Citing the nearly two-year period since the 2024 assembly election and Jharkhand’s annual voter growth rate of around 4%, Kumar said each polling station should receive an average of about 60 Form 6 applications. “Any laxity in adding newly eligible voters is a serious matter,” Kumar said.He said applications from newly eligible voters were being received online and offline after publication of the draft electoral roll on Aug 5. “With Oct 1, 2026, as the qualifying date, officials must ensure the registration of every eligible Indian citizen who has turned or will turn 18 by then,” he added. Applications under SIR can be submitted only till Sept 15.“During the home-to-roll verification exercise, booth level officers (BLOs) must visit every household and ensure that no newly eligible or young Indian citizen is left out,” Kumar said. They should collect Form 6 and declaration forms from eligible residents and get them digitised within the deadline.He also ordered special enrolment drives in schools and colleges to encourage eligible youths to apply through the ECINET app.Kumar directed officials to digitise all applications and declaration forms on time and dispose of them according to rules. DEOs were asked to conduct continuous special reviews and accord the highest priority to enrolling every eligible citizen before the deadline.“Registration in the electoral roll prepared under SIR is extremely important for the future, and related records are maintained as permanent documents,” Kumar said.
