Ranchi: Around 20 complaints have been received from Jamshedpur after cyber fraudsters sent fake emails to voters, threatening that their names would be deleted from the draft electoral roll prepared under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.The complaints, mainly from Kadma and Sonari areas under the Jamshedpur West assembly constituency, prompted warnings from the office of the chief electoral officer and the East Singhbhum administration. Tata Steel employees and several prominent doctors are among those targeted.Deputy electoral officer of Jamshedpur, Priyanka Singh, said most complaints were received from the two areas. “No fresh complaints have been reported since Saturday,” Singh told TOI on Monday.The fraudulent emails, purportedly sent by election authorities, ask recipients to click on a link, fill in a ‘SIR verification form’ and submit personal details and documents. They warn that failure to comply could lead to exclusion from the final electoral roll.Most recipients verified the emails with their booth level officers (BLOs), who alerted the election authorities. A complaint has also been lodged with the cyber security cell and East Singhbhum SSP.One such email, dated Oct 30, carried the subject line: “Action Required: Your Name Has Been Removed from the Draft Voters List”. It falsely claimed that discrepancies had been detected during the SIR process and that the recipient’s name had been temporarily removed from the draft roll.Election Commission has termed the emails misleading and part of an attempted cyber fraud. In an advisory, it clarified that district election authorities are not seeking certificates or documents through such emails.Officials advised voters not to click on suspicious links or share personal information, OTPs or documents on unknown websites. For voter verification and SIR-related services, electors should contact their BLOs or use official platforms, including the ECINET app and the voter services portal (voters.eci.gov.in).CEO reviews voter verification driveRanchi: Chief electoral officer K Ravi Kumar visited Latehar on Monday to review arrangements for the 12-day home-to-roll visit programme, which began on Sunday. The drive, scheduled to continue till Nov 12, aims to ensure that no eligible Indian citizen is left out of the electoral roll. During the programme, election officials will visit households to identify eligible voters missing from the list and assist them with inclusion through the prescribed procedures. Kumar reviewed field arrangements and directed officials to ensure effective implementation of the voter verification exercise.
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