SIR: Meghalaya flags 1.8 lakh ASDD voters; J'khand leaves 43.68 lakh forms uncollected

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls concluded in Meghalaya and Jharkhand on Wednesday, 29 July, with election authorities identifying 1.8 lakh electors in Meghalaya as absent, shifted, deceased or duplicate (ASDD), while 43.68 lakh enumeration forms remained uncollected in Jharkhand.

In Meghalaya, the Election Commission said the house-to-house verification exercise, conducted between 30 June and 29 July, achieved 100 per cent coverage, with all 23,49,645 registered electors submitting their enumeration forms either physically or digitally.

Chief electoral officer B.D.R. Tiwari said 1,80,404 electors, or 7.68 per cent of the electorate, were identified in the ASDD category. The category includes 81,490 deceased electors, 45,013 who did not return their enumeration forms, 42,532 who had permanently shifted, 4,668 who declined to submit the forms and 6,701 duplicate enrolments.

According to the CEO's office, 7,75,337 electors (33 per cent) were directly mapped to the 2005 electoral rolls, while 11,69,670 (49.78 per cent) were mapped through parental or guardian linkage.

Another 2,24,234 electors (9.54 per cent) could not be linked to the 2005 rolls and have been placed in the 'No Mapping' category. Their cases will be verified during the claims and objections period between 5 August and 3 September before any decision is taken on their electoral status.

The Meghalaya election department said it would now focus on verifying both the ASDD and 'No Mapping' categories before publishing the draft electoral roll on 5 August.

In Jharkhand, where the enumeration phase also concluded on Wednesday, officials said 43,68,377 enumeration forms could not be collected despite booth-level officers (BLOs) reaching nearly the entire electorate of 2.64 crore voters.

According to Election Commission data, the uncollected forms include those of 7,63,930 deceased voters, 15,92,960 permanently shifted electors and 14,55,733 voters who were absent or untraceable during the verification exercise.

Ranchi recorded the highest number of deceased voters at 94,463, followed by Dhanbad with 61,003.

Chief electoral officer K. Ravi Kumar said the draft electoral roll and the ASDD list would be published on 5 August and shared with recognised political parties in both digital and printed formats.

He said the claims and objections window would remain open from 5 August to 3 October, after which the final electoral rolls would be published on 7 October.

The CEO also said 2,64,63,236 enumeration forms, including those that could not be collected, had been digitised, covering nearly 100 per cent of the state's electorate.

Ahead of the exercise, parental mapping of 82.08 per cent of Jharkhand's electorate with the 2003 electoral rolls had been completed. However, around 47.41 lakh electors remain unmapped.

With PTI inputs