Odisha electoral roll: Over 20 lakh voters deleted in revision

Over 20 lakh electors were removed from Odisha's draft electoral roll, leaving 3.13 crore voters, announced CEO S Gopalan. The revision process found nearly 50 lakh anomalies. Voters can file claims and objections until August 4.

More than 20 lakh electors have been deleted from Odisha's draft electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Odisha S Gopalan said on Sunday, adding that the revised draft roll now contains over 3.13 crore voters.

Gopalan said copies of the revised roll had been provided to all recognised political parties. "When the SIR process started, there were 3 crore 33 lakh electors. Now, out of that, 20 lakh electors have been deleted and right now we have 3 crore 13 lakh 87 thousand 34 electors. Out of that, 1 crore 60 lakh 19 thousand 176 are male, 1 crore 53 lakh 65 thousand 83 are female, and 2,775 are third gender," Goplan told ANI.

Details of Electoral Roll Deletions

The CEO said 20,12,557 electors had been removed from the draft roll for various reasons. "Ten lakh seven thousand are deleted because they have shifted or they are absent. 1.58 lakh are deleted because of multiple entries; they have registered themselves in more than one place. Fourteen thousand electors have not returned their form for various reasons known to them. And therefore, right now we have in the draft roll three crore thirteen lakh eighty seven thousand electors," he said.

Voter Verification and Claims Process

Gopalan urged eligible voters to verify their names in the draft electoral roll and submit claims or objections if required. "They are given one month's time from today (5 July) till 4th August. Voters can file their claims and objections. They can file their claim and objection with the BLO (Booth Level Officer). And they can verify their name in the draft electoral roll either by visiting the website of CEO Odisha or by ECI's website or by contacting their BLO. If their name is not in the draft roll, then they are requested to file--if they are eligible on 1.7.2026--they can file their claim through Form 6," he said.

The CEO further said the revision exercise had uncovered nearly 50 lakh anomalies in the electoral roll, ranging from minor discrepancies to serious mismatches. "We have come across about 50 lakh anomalies--small discrepancies, errors, and some serious errors in the electoral roll--and those voters are also going to be issued a notice for correcting the entries. In some severe cases where the entries are completely not matching, then we will take suitable action. The entire claim should be filed before 4th August and all the claims will be settled by 2nd September. The final roll will be published on 6th September," Gopalan said.

Digitization and New Voter Enrollment

He said digitisation of the enumeration forms had been completed and would resume after the claims and objections period. "Digitization is over for the enumeration form will start again once the claims and objections period ends; whatever claims we have received, we'll be verifying them and that will also be digitized. We have added 1 lakh 98 thousand voters so far who have just completed 18 years. If any voters have missed the enrollment, they can now file Form 6," he said.

Supervision of the Process

"Ten secretary-level officers have been appointed as electoral roll observers and they will be visiting three to four districts each and they will supervise the process," Gopalan added. (ANI)

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