Voters residing in other states for employment only need to update a booth level officer (BLO) with relevant details over phone to stay on map under the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said on Wednesday.
“If you are a voter from Jharkhand and are currently outside the state, there is no need to worry. Your name can remain in the voter list. Just contact your BLO over phone and provide your details – the mapping will be completed,” Kumar said.
The Election Commission of India’s website also offers a ‘book a call’ service for migrants who cannot make the call themselves. Residents of India have two other options – fill out the census form and submit it online, or send a signed copy to the BLO via WhatsApp or by post to the BLO or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO). Jharkhand voters abroad must also fill Form 6A, available on the ECI website – and submit it along with the census form.
Only 73.25% of Jharkhand’s voters were indentified as of May 25, leaving about 27% of the state’s total 25.7 million voters still undecided. ECI wants all maps completed before June 30, when door-to-door review begins. Voters who remain unselected after that date risk being removed from the electoral roll.
Jharkhand’s migrant population makes the state particularly vulnerable to large-scale deletions if the mapping process is not completed in time. According to figures presented in the state Legislative Assembly, more than 1.6 million workers have migrated from the state for work – although the Jharkhand Migration Survey puts the number closer to 4.5 million. Many are daily wage workers in construction, domestic service and factories in major cities, and have no easy way to return home.
“Mapping is actively going on and covers out-of-state migrants. Voters whose names appeared in the 2003 voter list need not submit additional documents – only a filled-in census form is required,” BLO Rakesh Munda, at a polling station in Durwa 2 in Ranchi, confirmed.
