Bhubaneswar: The Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has raised serious concerns over large-scale exclusion of voters from the draft electoral roll under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Odisha, published on Sunday, alleging that the process contains multiple discrepancies and is aimed at curtailing the fundamental rights of voters.
Addressing a press conference at Sankha Bhawan, Senior Vice-President and former Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said that the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) had held discussions with representatives of various political parties on several occasions.
“However, significant discrepancies have been noticed between the electoral roll supplied by the Chief Electoral Officer’s office at the commencement of the SIR process and the electoral roll that has now been published,” Mishra alleged.
He stated that according to the final electoral roll published in 2025, the state had 3,40,72,744 registered voters, as reflected on the official website. After the Election Commission of India issued the notification for the SIR in Odisha on May 14, political parties were informed in a meeting held on May 15 that the state had approximately 3.34 crore voters. Subsequently, on June 12, the voter strength was shown as 3,33,99,591. However, while publishing the draft electoral roll on Sunday, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer stated that there are only 3,13,87,034 voters.
Mishra alleged that there is no consistency in the figures officially provided at different stages.
He further claimed that while the Election Commission reported 20.14 lakh exclusions, nearly 27 lakh voters had actually been left out, and that the Chief Election Commissioner’s stated objective of preparing a “pure and error-free” electoral roll had not been achieved in Odisha.
The senior BJD leader said the party had earlier flagged discrepancies across several Assembly constituencies and alleged that many long-time Odisha residents had been excluded due to the complex SIR process. He demanded simplification of the process, fresh verification and restoration of all eligible voters’ names.
The BJD also alleged that the CEO had not disclosed details relating to over seven lakh voters, and that inadequate training of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) had resulted in flaws in the SIR exercise. It said that thirteen complex procedural inconsistencies had led to the exclusion of many voters.
The party demanded immediate corrective measures, simplification of the process, fresh verification, removal of inconsistencies and inclusion of every eligible voter, while maintaining that ineligible voters should be removed.
(IANS)
