Ranchi: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Jharkhand has entered its final phase, with nine days left for filing claims and objections and nearly 9.8 lakh applications received by Septr 20.The deadline for submissions, initially fixed for Sept 4, was extended first to Sept 15 and then to Sept 30. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on Oct 19. Election officials must complete scrutiny, verification, hearings and disposal of all applications by Oct 14, leaving them with a compressed window to digitise and process the records.According to figures released by the election authorities, 9,78,150 applications had been received by Sept 20. These included 5,83,103 Form-6 applications for inclusion in the electoral roll, 3,85,640 Form-8 applications for corrections, shifting, transposition and other changes, 9,309 Form-7 objections, and 98 Form 6A applications from overseas electors.The authorities received 11,566 applications on Sept 20 alone. These comprised 5,785 Form-6 applications, 5,516 Form-8 applications and 265 Form-7 objections.Chief electoral officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar said all applications would be processed within the prescribed schedule and decided after due hearings. He also cautioned against treating the 5.83 lakh Form-6 applications as requests solely for restoring names omitted from the draft roll.“Form-6 also covers fresh enrolment by eligible citizens, including first-time voters,” Kumar said. Form-8, meanwhile, is used for corrections and changes to existing entries, including address shifts and transposition.The Election Commission published Jharkhand’s draft roll on Aug 5, after excluding 43,61,987 names under the absent, shifted, dead and duplicate categories. The claims and objections process is intended to allow eligible voters to seek inclusion or correction before the final roll is issued.
