Caste data of voters sought by Jharkhand police raises concerns of poll code violation

The EC, in its press release dated March 1, had said ‘no appeal shall be made on the basis of caste/communal feelings of the electors’.

The Special Branch of the Jharkhand Police wrote a letter on April 3 to the Deputy Superintendents of Police of all 24 districts to provide “caste wise number and percentage of the voters” in the light of Lok Sabha elections 2024, which Jharkhand’s Chief Electoral Officer said is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

The letter demanded that the “instructions” be followed and produce the desired return letter to the email address electioncell- sb@jhpolice.gov.in in an “MS word file format” within two days of receiving the letter. “Consider it very important,” the letter said.

The letter said: “Agami Lok Sabha ke aalok mein sansadiya loksabha chetra ki vartamaan bhaugolik sthithi awem rajnaitik paridrishya (vristit) tatha matdataon ka jilawaar jaatigat sankhya awem pratishat ki avashyakta hai (In the light of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024, there is a need for the current geographical position and political scenario (detailed) of the parliamentary constituency and the district wise caste number and percentage of voters).”

Jharkhand CEO K Ravi Kumar told The Indian Express: “Caste wise voter data cannot be sought and it is an MCC violation. Strict action will be taken, there is no two ways about it.”

It is the misuse of the data that has worried the officers. The EC, in its press release dated March 1, had said ‘no appeal shall be made on the basis of caste/communal feelings of the electors’.

Special Branch IG Prabhat Kumar told The Indian Express that it has been a practice in Jharkhand where a booklet is prepared on the upcoming polls, which is confidential in nature, and is circulated to only three to four top officers in the state. He said: “There is nothing fishy about it. It is the Special Branch’s job to gather intelligence and it has been done ahead of various elections. For instance, if there has been demographic change in Santhal Pargana area then data might be useful in policy-level changes. The data cannot be misused as the booklet is still in the preparatory stage.”

Kumar added that certain issues like preparation, booth-level facilities, security in the area among others are also recorded.

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However, he said the letter should not have come out. “An SP of Special Branch had written a letter to all Special Branch DySPs in the state seeking the caste wise data among others. This was supposed to be confidential and officers had to gather the data on their own and send it back. However, one of the officers had written to one of the district administrations in Jharkhand seeking the data in writing, leading to some confusion.”

Kumar said that a show cause notice has been issued to the officer concerned and in response the officer had said that at a later stage he again gave in writing to the district administration concerned that the data is not expected from them.