Jharkhand Electoral Roll Revision: Parties Gear Up for Voter List Scrutiny

Ranchi: Political parties have intensified preparations to protect voters’ rights and prevent the removal of eligible names from electoral rolls after the Election Commission of India announced that the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the state will begin on June 30.

The ECI on Thursday declared the schedule for the third phase of SIR in 16 states, including Jharkhand, and three Union Territories.

With door-to-door voter verification set to begin, parties have started training district block and booth-level workers to coordinate with govt-appointed booth-level officers and are planning awareness drives at polling booths across the state.

The ruling JMM has deployed party workers as booth-level agents-1 (BLA 1) and booth-level agents-2 (BLA 2) at booths statewide to monitor the process. JMM central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “BLA 1 and BLA 2 have been activated across the state to coordinate with BLOs to keep a vigil on the entire process and help the voters. The party is also mulling over organising a door-to-door awareness campaign about SIR across all booths.”

The Congress said it has been preparing for the exercise for the past four months and has appointed thousands of booth-level agents. JPCC president Keshav Mahto Kamlesh said, “Congress welcomes the process wholeheartedly and hopes it will be inclusive, not an exclusive one. In the last two phases of SIR in West Bengal and Bihar, around 6 crore voters were deleted from the electoral rolls, we do not hope the same for Jharkhand.” He added that the party has engaged 25 district presidents as BLA 1 and 17,281 BLA 2 to ensure transparency and assist in comparing the 2003 voter list with the 2024-25 rolls.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal, while opposing the exercise, said it would still participate. State general secretary Kailash Yadav said, “The SIR process is not in favour of commoners and is just a process managed by the Central govt. Nevertheless, Jharkhand RJD unit is on alert mode.”

CPI state executive member Ajay Singh said party workers were told to ensure no eligible voter is deleted. “Many people might not produce documents approved by the ECI during door-to-door visits, but they have been residing in an area for the last several decades,” he said, adding that neighbour validation should be considered.