Jharkhand: SIR camps begin operations at urban polling stations to facilitate enumeration

Ranchi, Jul 18 (PTI) The three-day special camps to assist voters with enumeration forms as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls became operational at polling stations in urban areas of Jharkhand on Saturday, an official said. The camps – set up in places like Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and Bokaro – aim to accelerate the distribution of enumeration forms to urban voters, assist them in filling and submitting those and support mapping with the previous SIR rolls, he said. The enumeration exercise began on June 30 and will continue until July 29, with BLOs conducting door-to-door visits to distribute, collect and verify enumeration forms. Booth-level officers (BLOs) have reached 97.63 per cent of Jharkhand's 2.64 crore electors under the ongoing SIR as of Saturday, the official said. During the day, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Subodh Kumar inspected polling stations 271 to 283 in Jamshedpur West, and polling booths 329 to 334 in Ichagarh. Kumar urged voters to fill up the enumeration forms and submit those to the respective BLOs by July 20. State Nodal Officer Devdas Dutta also inspected the distribution, collection, and digitisation of enumeration forms in the polling centres that had “performed poorly” during the SIR exercise in the Jharia assembly constituency of Dhanbad district. Dutta interacted with voters from several households in Bhaga Chowk, and expressed hope that the digitisation work would be completed on time. More than 62.10 per cent of the enumeration forms have been digitised so far, election officials said. “Now, only those voters remain who may fall under the ASDDF (absent, shifted, dead or duplicate, foreigner) list, those who could not submit the forms because they are living away from their polling station area, or those who have not yet received the forms due to any other reason,” Chief Electoral Officer of Jharkhand, K Ravi Kumar, said. The draft electoral rolls will be published on August 5, following which claims and objections can be filed till September 4. The claims and objections will be disposed of between August 5 and October 3, while the final electoral rolls will be out on October 7, the officials said. The CEO said the third and final meeting of BLOs and booth-level agents (BLAs) – representatives of recognised political parties – is scheduled for July 22 at all polling stations. During the meeting, the BLOs and BLAs will jointly finalise the ASDDF list, he said. Ahead of the enumeration exercise, parental mapping of 82.08 per cent of the state's electorate with the 2003 rolls has been completed. Of the total 2.64 crore electors, around 47.41 lakh remain unmapped, the officials added. PTI SAN RBT