Ranchi, Spet 9 : The names of three Afghan nationals have been found in the draft electoral rolls in Jharkhand during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), prompting the Election Commission to remove the entries and order a detailed investigation into how they were included in the voter list, officials said.
The names of Asil Khan, Mohammad Aslam and Mohammad Ibrahim were found in the electoral roll for polling station number 286 in the Jamshedpur East Assembly constituency. Their names appeared at serial numbers 30, 31 and 33, respectively.
The Election Commission has since directed that the three names be deleted from the electoral roll and ordered an investigation to determine how the entries were made and whether any individuals were involved in facilitating their inclusion.
Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said the presence of foreign nationals in the electoral roll was a serious matter and that the authorities were working to establish the facts through the verification process.
He said legal action would be initiated against anyone found responsible following the investigation.The Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent of Police of Jamshedpur have been directed to conduct the inquiry, officials said.
Investigative agencies are examining the circumstances under which the three names were entered into the voter list and whether an individual or a network was involved, an official said.
The probe will also ascertain whether the three Afghan nationals were the only foreign nationals whose names appeared in electoral rolls in the state.
The development has raised questions over the verification mechanisms followed during the enrolment of voters and the scrutiny of supporting documents.
The incident comes at a time when the SIR exercise is underway in Jharkhand, with authorities examining electoral records and verifying voter details.
The issue has also triggered a political controversy, with the BJP targeting the JMM-Congress government in the state.
BJP state spokesperson Sandeep Verma alleged that his party had repeatedly raised concerns over attempts to include names of Bangladeshi infiltrators in electoral rolls for what he termed “vote-bank politics”.
Verma demanded strict action against those responsible for the inclusion of the three names.
Officials, however, stressed that the investigation was still underway and that the circumstances leading to the inclusion of the three Afghan nationals’ names had not yet been established.
The authorities are expected to determine through the inquiry whether the entries resulted from procedural lapses, deliberate attempts at voter enrolment or the involvement of any individual or organised network.
