Jharkhand’s voter roll revision recorded a sharp increase in objections on November 12, with 7,650 Form 7 applications digitised in a single day as the state’s home-to-roll outreach drive concluded. The cumulative number of objections reached 1,07,708, while the final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 30.
Chief electoral officer K Ravi Kumar said the outreach campaign could lead to the addition of around 9–10 lakh voters to the electoral roll. The estimate is not the final number of approved applications, however, and the bulletin did not provide details of how many applications had been accepted.
Form 7 is used to raise objections to existing electoral roll entries. The latest daily figure was substantially higher than the 141 applications digitised on November 10. The available figures do not include a category-wise break-up of objections relating to deceased, permanently shifted or duplicate electors.
Officials said camps, meetings between booth-level officers and booth-level agents-2 representing political parties, and door-to-door visits had helped identify eligible voters and process applications. Kumar said Jharkhand’s outreach had been more successful than similar exercises in other states, citing Odisha as an example where additions were considerably lower.
The revision process also includes procedures for unresolved cases involving electors who have not completed hearing formalities. Instructions issued by the chief electoral officer on November 3 required officials to examine such cases individually, including situations where an elector had not responded despite two notices and a visit by a booth-level officer.
If an elector remains untraceable and no contact source is available, the electoral registration officer or assistant electoral registration officer may initiate deletion proceedings under existing legal provisions after recording the reasons. The instructions also provide for contacting electors who are temporarily away for education or employment by telephone or video call. Relatives may submit documents on their behalf if the process is properly recorded.
The state digitised 11,766 applications across four forms on November 12, taking the cumulative total to 16,29,673. At the same time, 17,54,618 verification cases remained pending till that date. The figures indicate that the exercise is still operating at a large administrative scale, with claims, objections and verification cases moving through separate stages before the final roll is issued.
Claims and objections received up to October 31 must be disposed of by November 23. The final electoral roll is scheduled for publication on November 30, when the projected additions and the outcome of the pending verification process will become clearer.
