Jharkhand SIR: Special camps at all polling stations on October 10 to add eligible voters

The EC will hold camps at every polling station in Jharkhand on October 10 to assist eligible persons, including destitute women and persons with disabilities, in getting their names included in the electoral rolls as part of the ongoing SIR exercise, an official said.

"The objective of these camps is to complete pending work related to SIR-2026 and provide necessary assistance to eligible Indian citizens to get their names included in the voter list. Special outreach should be made to tribal groups, backward classes, persons with disabilities, elderly voters, destitute women, and other weak and deprived sections," CEO K Ravi Kumar said.

Kumar clarified that the camps would cater only to eligible voters and not those whose names had been deleted from the rolls.

He directed officials to seek the cooperation of volunteers, departments concerned and institutions, if required, to ensure that genuine voters do not face unnecessary difficulties.

"Eligible youths aged 18 years and above, whose names are not enrolled in the voter list or who have not yet submitted Form-6, and eligible migrant voters should also be identified and the necessary process completed," Kumar said.

He also directed officials to ensure necessary corrections in the electoral rolls through Form-8 for voters whose details contain errors.

"Lack of information should not be a reason for depriving any eligible Indian citizen from being included in the voter list. I directed all officials concerned to ensure during the entire process that no eligible Indian citizen is left out of the voter list, and no ineligible or foreign person is included," the CEO said.

Around 7.36 lakh Form-6 applications and 4.87 lakh Form-8 applications have been digitised so far.

These applications were received during the claims and objections period up to October 3.

The Election Commission published the draft electoral rolls in Jharkhand on August 5 after deleting 43.61 lakh names. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on October 19.

The state had 2.64 crore electors before the SIR exercise began. Following the exercise, the draft electoral roll contains 2.21 crore voters, including 1.12 crore men, 1.08 crore women and 260 third-gender voters.