“I told him that after submitting the form, he will be witness to the deletion of the names of the voters. The BLA said he has 70 such forms and that he was going to destroy them,” he said.
The mukhiya of Vatra panchayat alleged that BJP BLAs had distributed such forms at four booths — Maheshtikri, Pachua Kitta, Lochni and Baghakol.
The allegations come as Jharkhand undergoes a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of its electoral rolls.
Basantrai Block Development Officer and Electoral Registration Officer Sriman Marandi said he had ordered a probe into the matter.
“Anyone can raise an objection. I asked the BLOs to accept the forms treating them as objections. Names of genuine voters cannot be deleted in any case,” Marandi told PTI.
He said a preliminary inquiry at Booth 9 found that 24 of the 25 voters named in the applications had been residing in the area for a long time. The remaining voter had been away from the village for two months as a migrant worker.
“We expect the final inquiry report to come in a day or two,” Marandi said.
Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said he had sought a report from the district election officer.
“BLAs can submit forms in bulk, and the BLOs cannot deny accepting them. However, the BLA has to submit a declaration that information provided in the form is true. We have to check if the BLA had submitted declaration or not,” he said.
The developments coincide with the publication of the draft electoral rolls in Jharkhand on Wednesday, following the deletion of more than 43.61 lakh names during the SIR exercise.
The state had 2.64 crore electors before the enumeration exercise. The draft rolls now contain around 2.21 crore voters, comprising 1.12 crore men, 1.08 crore women and 260 third-gender electors.
The enumeration exercise was conducted from June 30 to July 29, with BLOs undertaking door-to-door visits to distribute, collect and verify enumeration forms.
The Election Commission has extended the deadline for filing claims and objections under the SIR to September 15. The final publication of the revised electoral rolls has also been deferred from October 7 to October 19.
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