The Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee has sought a 30-day extension of the hearing period under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, citing administrative hurdles, documentation delays and technical problems affecting voters across the state.
A Congress delegation led by state in-charge K. Raju and state president Keshav Mahto Kamlesh met Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jharkhand on Wednesday and submitted a memorandum seeking immediate steps to address the difficulties faced by voters.
Citing the notice and hearing figures up to October 31, the Congress said that 59,56,574 notices had been issued across the state. Hearings had been completed in 40,25,102 cases, while 19,31,472 cases were still pending. In addition, 5,06,625 notices were yet to be delivered to voters, according to the memorandum.
Raju said several blocks were not issuing permanent resident certificates, while people were also facing difficulties in obtaining caste certificates, family register documents and genealogical records. These delays, he said, were preventing many eligible voters from submitting the required documents within the stipulated period.
The party also flagged the workload of election officials and alleged technical glitches in the BLO app. It claimed that in some cases, hearings had been completed but the online status continued to show them as pending, while some voters were receiving fresh notices.
The Congress demanded that local residence certificates be accepted for SIR after due verification, pending certificates be issued promptly, and voters receive SMS confirmation after attending hearings. It also sought an immediate resolution of technical problems in the BLO app.
Kamlesh said festivals such as Diwali, Bhai Dooj and Chhath had affected people's availability and access to government offices, making it difficult to complete all hearings within the existing deadline.
The party urged the CEO to extend the hearing period by at least 30 days, arguing that no eligible citizen should lose the right to vote because of documentation or administrative difficulties.
The delegation included Minister Shilpi Neha Tirkey, legislators Ramchandra Singh and Bhushan Bara, and party leaders Subodh Kant Sahay, Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu, Banna Gupta, Rakesh Sinha, Satish Paul Munjani, Dr M. Tausif, Sonal Shanti, Jyoti Singh Matharu, Suryakant Shukla, Kamal Thakur and Kedar Paswan.