Three people identified as Afghan nationals were allegedly found in the draft electoral roll in Jamshedpur during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, prompting the Election Commission to conduct a district-level probe.

According to officials, the three cases were detected during the process of verification of documents submitted for inclusion of names in the electoral roll in Jamshedpur East. Arnav Mishra, SDO and Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), Jamshedpur East, said all three had submitted passports as their supporting documents during the SIR process.

“Passports are among the 11 documents valid for the SIR. They submitted their passports as their primary documents. When the passports were sent to the passport office for verification, it was found that they were not valid and that the persons were Afghan nationals,” Mishra said.

He said that of the three cases, the passport office had already rejected one passport-related verification, while the other two will be rejected soon. The three cases are from Jamshedpur East. The officer said the matter had been brought to the notice of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and that a detailed investigation was underway at the district level.

Asked whether an FIR had been registered, Mishra said the authorities were currently investigating the cases and that further action would depend on the findings. “If it is found that there has been wrongdoing, action will definitely be taken against whoever is responsible,” he said.

Mishra also referred to provisions under the Representation of the People Act, saying that knowingly submitting false or fake documents during an electoral process constitutes an offence and that action would be taken according to law if the investigation establishes such wrongdoing.

“All the concerned authorities are aware of the matter and a detailed investigation is going on at the district level. Once the investigation is completed, action will be taken accordingly,” Mishra said.

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The officer, however, stressed that the investigation was still underway and that the authorities would establish the facts through the verification process.

An investigation by in Jharkhand’s Godda found a pattern of bulk Form 7 applications seeking deletion of voters from the electoral rolls, with most of the targeted names belonging to Muslims. At least four Booth Level Officers flagged the applications as procedurally suspect. also tracked down some of the voters targeted for deletion and found that they had been living in the village for generations, with many also verified in the 2003 intensive revision of the rolls.

Following the Express investigation, district election authorities in Godda, Jharkhand, sought a report and initiated an inquiry into the submission of Form 7 applications seeking deletion of voters’ names at Booth No. 9 in Maheshtikri village of Basantrai block.