Odisha: Rights of every citizen must remain intact: Naveen Patnaik participates in SIR
Bhubaneswar, May 31
Leader of the Opposition in the Odisha Assembly Naveen Patnaik, on Sunday, participated in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and urged citizens to verify their voter rights as the statewide exercise commenced.
Patnaik received and signed the enumeration form handed over by a Booth Level Officer (BLO) at his residence, Naveen Niwas, as part of the voter verification drive launched by the Election Commission.
Emphasising the importance of safeguarding democratic rights, Patnaik said in a post on X, "Protecting the rights of voters is paramount in a democracy. By participating in the #SIR process that has begun in Odisha, I have ensured my voter rights. Before anyone removes your name from the voter list, everyone should verify their voter rights. In a democracy, the rights of every citizen must remain intact. #SIROdisha".
The Special Intensive Revision drive began across Odisha on May 30 and will continue until June 28. The exercise aims to update and streamline electoral rolls ahead of future elections by verifying voter details through door-to-door outreach.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Odisha, S Gopalan, had announced the programme on Friday and said Booth Level Officers would play a central role in the exercise by visiting households and distributing enumeration forms.
"SIR will start from tomorrow, May 30, and continue until June 28. BLOs will go door-to-door to meet people. During these visits, they will distribute forms. People will have to fill out these forms and return them to the BLOs," Gopalan told ANI.
To facilitate public participation, BLOs will also remain available at designated polling booths every day between 3 pm and 5 pm to assist voters and receive completed forms.
"To assist people, BLOs will be present at their respective booths every day from 3 pm to 5 pm. This will allow citizens to seek help or submit their documents in person. If people wish, they can also directly download the census form from the ECI website," the CEO said.
According to the Election Commission's schedule, Odisha, along with Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur, has July 1, 2026, as the qualifying date for the revision. The draft electoral roll will be published on July 5, while claims and objections can be filed until August 4. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on September 6, 2026.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Leaders actually doing something practical for voters? Shocking but welcome. I hope this isn't just political drama. The real test will be whether they actually correct errors quickly. Many people's names were missing last election in my area.
Interesting to see a former CM personally participating in voter verification. In many countries, politicians just talk about voting rights but don't engage in the process themselves. This sets a good example for others. Let's hope all parties encourage their workers to help citizens.
Naveen ji still cares about Odisha's democracy even after losing power. That's class. But why only now? This SIR should have been done months before elections. Nonetheless, better late than never. Every citizen should check their name. 😊
Respect to Naveen Patnaik for leading by example. Many leaders don't even know their own polling booth. But I'm skeptical about the ground reality - will BLOs actually visit every house in remote areas? In my village, they came once but my name was still wrong. Let's see if this time is different.
This is exactly what democracy needs - active participation. I'm from Canada and we have similar door-to-door verification before elections. It's surprising India doesn't have a permanent online system yet, but this manual process shows commitment. Hopefully Odisha will have clean rolls for next elections.
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