Over 20 lakh electors deleted from Odisha draft electoral roll during SIR: CEO S Gopalan
Bhubaneswar, July 5
More than 20 lakh electors have been deleted from Odisha's draft electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision process, Chief Electoral Officer 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.
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.
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.
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.
"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
Reader Comments
10 lakh shifted or absent 😯 That's huge. But I wonder how many of those who shifted actually care to update their details? Many people move within the state for work and never bother. At least the digitization part is good—hope the website is user-friendly for common people.
CEO S Gopalan seems thorough. Appointing 10 secretary-level officers as observers is a good step. But 50 lakh anomalies—that's too many. What kind of "serious errors" are we talking? Mismatched photos? Wrong addresses? Voter ID fraud? Need more transparency on this.
1.58 lakh multiple entries removed—that's basically dead voters and duplicate registrations. Glad they're catching it. In US we also have periodic roll cleanups but often they become political. Hope India does it right. The deadline till August 4th seems fair for claims.
As an Odia living in another state, I hope my family's names are correct in the roll. The process should be simple for elderly people who aren't tech-savvy—not everyone can visit the website. Booth Level Officers should do door-to-door checks for old voters. Sab thik ho jaye.
Interesting how they've added only 1.98 lakh new 18-year-olds. That seems low for a state of 3.13 crore voters. Are young people not enrolling? Or is the process too complicated? Also, the digitization pause during claims period makes sense to avoid confusion.
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.