Door to door voter enumeration drive to begin from June 30

PNS

Ranchi

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K. Ravi Kumar on Friday said that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct a door-to-door voter enumeration drive from June 30 to July 29 as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Addressing a training session for computer operators and help desk managers of all districts from the Election Building in Ranchi, Kumar said BLOs will distribute partially pre-filled Enumeration Forms to voters and collect them along with their latest colour photographs and signatures.

He clarified that the exercise is meant only for eligible Indian citizens. Non-Indian citizens or those who have renounced Indian citizenship should return the Enumeration Form to the BLO without filling or signing it. Submitting false information in the declaration form is a punishable offence under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, he warned.

Kumar said every eligible Indian citizen can be registered as a voter in only one Assembly constituency and at only one polling station across the country. Voters whose names appear in more than one electoral roll should submit the signed Enumeration Form at their place of ordinary residence and return the other form unsigned, stating the reason.

He further said that voters whose names are registered both in Jharkhand and another state but who wish to retain their registration in Jharkhand should submit the Enumeration Form in Jharkhand and apply for deletion of their name from the other state’s electoral roll through Form 7.

Explaining citizenship provisions under the Citizenship Act, 1955, Kumar said that people born in India between January 26, 1950 and July 1, 1987 are considered citizens by birth. For those born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004, at least one parent must be an Indian citizen. For births after December 2, 2004, both parents must be Indian citizens, or one parent must be an Indian citizen while the other foreign parent holds valid travel documents and is not an illegal migrant.

The CEO said that all voters submitting Enumeration Forms will be included in the draft electoral roll to be published on August 5. Voters whose details are correctly mapped will not be required to submit additional documents. He added that lists of absent, shifted, deceased, duplicate and refuse-to-sign voters will be verified with Booth Level Agents (BLA-2) and published along with the draft roll.

During the training programme, Kumar also briefed participants on the role of BLA-2, voter mapping, citizenship provisions, the BLO App and other aspects of the SIR process. Senior election officials and district-level personnel attended the programme online.