Jharkhand’s electoral-roll revision has crossed 13.64 lakh digitised applications, with fresh voter enrolment forming the largest category and more than 5.23 lakh applications seeking corrections or shifting of entries, according to the latest bulletin issued by the office of the chief electoral officer.
The bulletin, reporting figures up to October 13, recorded 13,64,018 applications across four categories under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Form-6 applications for fresh voter enrolment accounted for 8,20,331 of the total. Of these, 11,923 applications were digitised on October 13 alone.
Form-8 applications, used for corrections or shifting of electoral entries, stood at 5,23,243. The figure is nearly two-thirds of the Form-6 total, indicating that the revision is also involving a substantial volume of changes to existing voter records. However, the bulletin did not provide a separate break-up showing how many Form-8 applications related to corrections and how many involved shifting entries.
The other categories included 119 Form-6A applications from overseas Indian electors and 20,325 Form-7 applications related to deletions and objections. Together, the four categories made up the reported total of 13,64,018 digitised applications.
A total of 12,520 applications were digitised on October 13. Besides the 11,923 Form-6 applications, the daily figure included applications from the other categories, although no Form-8 application was digitised that day, the bulletin said. The figures represent applications digitised and do not establish how many have been approved, rejected or remain pending.
District-level figures available up to October 12 showed Ranchi recording the highest number of Form-6 applications at 80,297. Palamu followed with 70,359, while Dhanbad recorded 67,226 and Giridih 65,277. These figures identify the districts with the largest volumes of fresh-enrolment applications in the available district-wise data.
Ranchi also recorded the highest number of Form-8 applications at 85,324. Giridih followed with 63,593 and Hazaribag with 46,382. For Form-7 applications, Chatra reported the highest figure at 5,084, followed by Ranchi at 3,220 and West Singhbhum at 3,176.
The scale of Form-8 applications means that the revision is not limited to adding new voters. It also involves residents seeking to update or move electoral entries, a process that can become important when people relocate between neighbourhoods, towns or districts. The bulletin, however, does not identify the reasons behind individual applications or provide a district-wise status of their disposal.
The claims and objections period will remain open until October 31. The applications are scheduled to be disposed of by November 23, after which the final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 30.
Until the claims and objections period closes and the applications are decided, the digitisation figures cannot be treated as a final count of additions, deletions or corrections to Jharkhand’s electoral roll. The next official milestones are the October 31 deadline for claims and objections, the November 23 disposal target and publication of the final roll on November 30.
