SIR: Jharkhand Congress Demands 15-Day Extension for Voter Enumeration

Ranchi (IANS): The Jharkhand unit of the Congress party has formally urged the Election Commission to extend the deadline for submitting voter enumeration forms under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive by 15 days. The party points to dangerously slow progress in the state’s major urban Assembly constituencies as the reason for the demand.

A high-level party delegation submitted a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Office on Friday. Led by state Congress General Secretary Suryakant Shukla, Media Coordinator Lal Kishore Nath Shahdeo, and Social Media Vice President Sanjay Kumar, the leaders handed the request to Additional Chief Electoral Officer Subodh Kumar in the absence of CEO K. Ravi Kumar.

The leaders acted on direct instructions from Jharkhand Congress in-charge K. Raju and state President Keshav Mahto Kamlesh.

Urban Voter Digitization Plummets Below 12%

The Special Intensive Revision drive kicked off on June 30 and is currently scheduled to wrap up on July 29. However, the Congress leaders revealed alarming official statistics proving that form distribution and digital logging are lagging far behind schedule in densely populated zones.

According to the party’s data, digitization rates in key urban areas remain shockingly low:

The Risk of Disenfranchisement

The Congress warned that if the Election Commission sticks to the current July 29 timeframe, the sluggish pace will inadvertently lock thousands of eligible citizens out of the democratic process.

“If the process concludes within the existing timeframe, many eligible voters may not be able to submit their forms and could consequently be excluded from the electoral rolls,” the party stated in its memorandum.

To prevent large-scale voter exclusion, the Congress requested the Election Commission to push the final date for the enumeration phase from July 29 to August 13. The party argues that an extra 15 days will give booth workers enough time to build a comprehensive, fair, and accurate voter database ahead of upcoming polls.