THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, October 25: As days get closer and closer to the launching of SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls in Jharkhand, there is a need to know how to go about it.
Sources said the Jharkhand State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar and his team are working hard on it while down the line, say booth-level officers are still to be geared up for it. There prevails a sense of indifference to the SIR.
Importance of SIR as a National Process
The popular perception is that Jharkhand has no Assembly or Lok Sabha election in the coming 4 years, and the impending civic body elections have no truck with the SIR, so there is no point in becoming any jittery about it.
What one forgets is that SIR is a national phenomenon, and hence Jharkhand can’t be any step behind.
The 2003 electoral roll is a holy touchstone. If an elector’s name figures in the 2003 electoral roll, then no document is required in respect of self’s date of birth, place of birth, parents’ date of birth, place of birth etc. Absolutely, it’s a zero document.
However, if the name of the elector is not in the 2003 electoral roll and the elector is born in India before July 1, 1987, then the elector is to give a document for their date of birth and place of birth.
Linking Voter Data Through Parental Mapping
Here, there is a safe passage. It’s the mapping of progeny. The mapping of progeny is with either parents or grandparents.
Linkage is used for this mapping while the easiest term may be clubbing. Here it is.
If the father or mother’s name is in the 2003 electoral roll and his or her progeny’s name is in the present electoral roll, then in that event the name of the progeny is to be clubbed or linked to father or mother’s name which figures in the 2003 electoral roll and that will help the progeny from any more rigours of giving documents.
Is this task of mapping of progeny with parents any easy? The straight answer is extremely arduous in cases of girls who got married and moved on to other district or assembly constituency than where their parents live or lived.
Help Desks to Aid Verification Process
Sources said the Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), K Ravi Kumar, has tasked the district election officers to set up parental mapping help desk at the ward and block level.
One has seen such help desks of land mutation matters where chaos breaks in more faster than any other thing. What if there is any mismatch in the spelling of the name of the parent or parents in the 2003 electoral roll with the progeny’s name on the latest electoral roll?
It is assured that unmapped voters will not be persona non grata. All unmapped voters will be taken care of quite properly.
Can 95 per cent of SIR be smooth, the ECI so hopes? When the publication of the draft electoral roll is pasted on the government wall, how many eyes scan it? It’s very few when it’s important. Similarly interest of the public can be aroused in SIR by holding press briefings at regular intervals.
Documentation Requirements Based on Birth Year
Year matters most to the electors like born in India before 1.7. 1987, between 1.7.1987 and 2.12.2004 and after 2.12.2004. Just go for the self date of birth, place of birth and same for father or mother but for born in India after 2.12.2004, collect birth certificates for father and mother both!
There is a significant gap of around 20 per cent in the rate of birth and its registration in Palamu. Will this not affect the process of linkage or clubbing?
And one last query. Why are officials calling it mapping when the matching word is far more appropriate?
