Jharkhand

Eligible voters who missed out on Jharkhand's voter list during the Special Intensive Revision now get another chance to enrol. CEO K Ravi Kumar announced special digitisation camps at every polling station across the state on Oct 7, 8 and 9.

What Happens at the Camps

CEO reviewed the revision work on Tuesday and told officials to move faster on digitising Forms 6, 7 and 8 that booth level officers had collected. He also asked them to make sure applicants get proper help at these camps.

Extra attention will go toward these groups:

• Tribal communities
• Elderly voters
• Persons with disabilities
• Transgender persons
• Sex workers
• Other poor and left out groups

The goal is simple. Every eligible Indian citizen should be on the electoral roll, the CEO said.

On Oct 10, a BLO-BLA-2 meeting-cum-mega helpdesk will be set up at every polling station. Voters can visit for help with enrolment, claims and objections, and notice hearings. The final electoral roll under the revision is expected to be published on Oct 19.

Voters in Ranchi queued up at the collectorate near Kutchery Chowk on Saturday, struggling to gather required documents after getting notices about electoral roll problems.

Most of them were from Hindpiri. Md Bittu got a notice because his father's name in the 2003 voter list, made during the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR), did not match what is written in the 2024-25 list. He was first called on Sept 19 and told to come again on Saturday, as officials could not link his details. Heena Sanya said officials found a mismatch in her name and asked her to submit an affidavit. Md Arshad Ali, also from Hindpiri, said many people got only five days between getting the notice and showing up for the hearing. "The time given to me was very short," he said, adding that low literacy and lack of awareness are adding to the problems.

Chief electoral officer K Ravi Kumar brought some relief. He told officials that voters getting SIR notices do not have to submit separate papers for every reason mentioned. Officials only need to prove three things: the person is an Indian citizen, had turned 18 by Oct 1, and lives in the polling station area.

Kumar also said mismatches could be from counting mistakes, bad mapping during the last SIR, or wrong entries. The hearings, he said, are to find eligible Indian citizens, not to fix every error from earlier SIR rounds.

Jharkhand voter roll revision is running out of time as over 11.8 lakh claims are still waiting to be processed before the deadline.

Voter roll revision decides who gets to vote on polling day. In Jharkhand, the number of claims this time is very high.

Election officials are trying to finish checking all claims before the set period ends. With so many still pending, the pressure on the team is real.

Keep an eye on the final published voter list. If your name is missing or your details are wrong, raise objections while the window is still open.

A clean and updated voter list is very important for free and fair elections. Every claim counts.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) workers protested outside Lok Bhavan in Ranchi on Wednesday. They were against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. Their main demand was for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign.

Many JMM workers and supporters turned up. Some even arrived at Lok Bhavan on camels. It gave the protest a striking visual.

JMM leaders had serious objections to the SIR process. They questioned how the Election Commission is working. They wanted full clarity in the voter list revision. They also said their objections must be looked at before any final decision is made.

Rajya Sabha MP Dr Mahua Maji called the CEC's attitude "biased." She said democracy cannot survive if constitutional bodies work in favour of one party. She also claimed that all voter list work done during Gyanesh Kumar's time is illegal. According to her, he ignored the views of the two other Election Commissioners.

Throughout the demonstration, protesters raised slogans against both the government and the Election Commission.

Jharkhand BJP president Aditya Sahu has asked Congress to give an unconditional apology to the country and the Election Commission over what he called "baseless" charges against the poll panel on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.

Sahu's comments came a day after the Election Commission put out a joint statement saying every decision on SIR was taken by all three commissioners together. He told reporters in Ranchi that Congress and the INDIA bloc were creating confusion and making up stories to question the country's democracy.

The row broke out after a news report claimed the poll panel had internal disagreements over pan-India SIR. Opposition parties, including Congress, asked Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign. Gandhi said the CEC was put in charge of "match-fixing" India's elections by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

A report in The Indian Express said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on SIR. They said these were issued without their knowledge or suggestion. The objections covered changes to the statutory voter registration Form 6, how additions and deletions from voter lists were handled, and central control over the voter list database.

The Election Commission firmly said all SIR orders had unanimous consent from all three commissioners. It also confirmed that updates to Form 6 for voter enrolment have been upheld by the Supreme Court.

Sahu said the opposition was spreading wrong information among the public about the declaration in Form 6 of the SIR process. He called the report "entirely baseless and fabricated" with no real facts or truth.

Hundreds of people, including members of Muslim and Christian communities, held a protest in Mahuadanr block of Jharkhand on Thursday. They say Form 7 applications are being misused during the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists to target eligible voters.

Sanyukt Sarvdaliya Ekta Manch organised the protest. People marched through Mahuadanr with placards and sat outside the Sub Divisional Officer's office. A memorandum was handed over asking for a probe into the misuse of the voter deletion process.

Ajit Pal Kujur, district president of Congress ST Morcha, said BJP-linked people are filing Form 7 applications to get Muslim and Christian voters removed from the lists. He said such cases have been reported in areas like Pahadkapu and Amwatoli.

Another speaker, Khajimuddin, said objections are being filed against people who still live at their registered addresses. He asked for an investigation and legal action against anyone found filing false objections.

Protesters also raised concerns about Booth Level Officers. Manina Kujur said BLOs are being pressured to sign papers connected to Form 7 applications. The protesters want every deletion request to be properly checked before action is taken against a voter.

What the Election Commission has said

Election Commission has clarified that filing a Form 7 does not lead to automatic deletion. The Electoral Registration Officer must follow a set process including inquiry and hearing before making a final decision. The last date for claims and objections under the SIR process has been extended to September 30.

As of September 14, Jharkhand had received 5,689 Form 7 objections. Similar complaints were reported earlier in Godda, where district election authorities ordered an inquiry into Form 7 applications filed at a booth in Maheshtikri village.

Deepika Pandey Singh, Rural Development Minister of Jharkhand, has accused Election Commission of being involved in a nationwide vote-theft scheme. Her comments follow reports that 14 internal objections were raised within the Commission about electoral processes in areas like Torpa, Tamar, and Khunti.

Concerns about electoral process

Minister Singh pointed to worries about voter registration, along with adding or removing names and centralizing voter databases. She believes these problems are not just simple mistakes. She says they are a threat to the Constitution and democracy. Singh also asked why these internal disagreements were kept private. She is calling for more clarity on how the electoral system works.

District Election Officer Rajeev Ranjan held a review meeting for Special Intensive Revision 2026. The main aim is making sure every eligible citizen gets added to the voter list for Jamshedpur East and Jamshedpur West.

Voter registration steps

Officials must register all Form-6 applications on the BLO App within two days. Also, Booth Level Officers and supervisors need to provide signed certificates. These papers must confirm that no eligible voter in their area was missed.

EROs and AEROs must submit their own certificates to the district office by September 24, 2026. Delays are not allowed during this process.

Two tribal men from Khunti district joined the voters list without having standard identity documents like Aadhaar. Joseph Kongadi and Lukas Kongadi, from Udikel Girjatoli village, faced problems until local officials stepped in. They used land records and a formal statement from their gram sabha to prove where they live and who they are.

New approach for voter registration

Chief electoral officer K Ravi Kumar told officials across the state to use this flexible way of working. He wants to make sure no real voter is missed because they lack specific documents. Officials should use existing government records to help tribal applicants in remote areas. This is part of a plan to keep the voters list correct during the current revision process.

Election Commission of India officials moved the deadline for filing claims and corrections in Jharkhand draft voter lists to September 30. Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar confirmed this is the final extension for the special revision project. Act quickly if your name is missing.

How to update your details

Eligible people turning 18 by October 1, 2026, can submit Form 6 using ECINET or contact a local Booth Level Officer. To fix a mistake or change an address, use Form 8. If you see an error or need to object to a name, use Form 7.

Officials will hold an inquiry before removing any name from the list. This is a chance to make sure voting details are accurate.

Voters in Jharkhand have more time to file claims and objections about name deletions in the electoral rolls. The new deadline to submit requests is September 30.

This update is part of the Special Intensive Revision process. Although the submission date changed, the final voter list will still be published on October 19.

Important voter list updates

State officials mentioned this is the second extension to help keep the rolls accurate. After a recent check, the draft rolls include 2.21 crore voters. If you see mistakes in your registration status in places like Torpa, Tamar, or Khunti, use this time to file claims through the official process.

Garhwa district officials issued notices to 38 members of an Iranian-origin family. This follows a check done during the voter list revision. The family lives in wards 1 and 3 of Garhwa Nagar Parishad. Now, officials are checking if they follow the rules to stay on the draft voter list.

Checking benefits and identity

Authorities are also checking if the family received government benefits like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The family has documents such as Aadhaar, PAN, and voter IDs. Officials are looking into how they got these without clear proof of citizenship. The district election officer said all claims and objections follow the standard rules.