10 lakh of 17 lakh Gopalganj voter forms have no supporting documents: District Election Officer

As many as 10.4 lakh of the total 17.4 lakh enumeration forms submitted on time in Gopalganj district did not have any document of proof attached, a press release issued on August 1 by the District Election Officer (DEO) of Gopalganj shows.

In Gopalganj, only 1.3 lakh enumeration forms were submitted with one of the 11 documents prescribed by the Election Commission (ECI) in its June 24 order on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. 54,944 forms were submitted with a document other than the 11 documents, as per the release.

ET gathers that there are similar issues across districts with reasonably high submission of enumeration forms but without the prescribed documents. District collectors are pulling out all stops to 'assist' such electors with documents so that when their case lands with the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) for a final scrutiny, they can make it to the final electoral roll.

This trend bears out clearly across the six assembly constituencies in Gopalganj district.

For Hathua assembly constituency, the figure is staggering. Of the total 2.8 lakh EFs submitted, as many as 2.1 lakh were without any document, just 14,918 have an ECI prescribed document attached and 2,998 have added some other document.

Of the 2.9 lakh enumeration forms received, in Baikunthpur seat,1.45 lakh are without any document; in Barauli, 1.5 lakh of the total 2.7 lakh forms submitted are backed with no document of proof. Barauli has reported just 9,717 forms submitted with one of the 11 ECI mandated documents. In Gopalganj, it is again 1.58 lakh forms of the total 2.8 lakh that are without documents while the figure is 1.59 lakh for Kuchaikot which has 2.8 lakh EFs submitted. Bhore seat, where 3.2 lakh forms were submitted, has 2.1 lakh without documents. Gopalganj district's total 3.1 lakh deletions have nearly half -- 1.28 lakh deleted due to permanent shifting, 71,135 dead, 35,258 cases of duplicate entries and 75,070 electors off due to 'other' reasons.

With similar scenarios playing out across several districts, the district administration is out in full force, fielding BLOs once again to match electors and find due documents. "Yes, there are several such cases of electors whose forms have come but not with the documents required. However, this list is coming down every day as BLOs are going from house to house to reach all such electors and help them with the documents. We have also brought out the Mahadalit Vikas register and SC/ST family registers to specifically help the disadvantaged sections make it to the rolls. Also, it must be noted that the ERO has the right to assess each elector's details based on field enquiry and other inputs to decide on electoral roll entry. We are quite positive that all eligible electors will make it to the final roll," a district election officer of a district with lakhs of such cases told ET.

Amid major concerns over the inability of electors to furnish the ECI prescribed documents of proof of birth for themselves and parents (in some categories), the poll panel had shifted its focus to submission of forms by July 25 -- even without documents -- and submit them later during the claims and objections period over the month of August for the ERO to assess.