Odisha draft rolls drop over 20 lakh voters; BJD alleges wider exclusions

Odisha's draft electoral rolls show a net reduction of over 20 lakh voters after the Special Intensive Revision, while the BJD claims the actual exclusions are closer to 27 lakh

More than 20.12 lakh voters have been removed from Odisha's draft electoral rolls published on Sunday following the month-long Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, triggering a political controversy, with the opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) alleging that the actual number of excluded electors is higher than what the Election Commission has acknowledged.

 

The draft electoral roll released by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) shows that Odisha's electorate has come down from 3,33,99,591 before the revision to 3,13,87,034, with a net reduction of 20,12,557 electors after the completion of the enumeration phase conducted between 30 May and 28 June.

 

 

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R S Gopalan attributed the deletions primarily to deaths, migration, duplicate registrations and electors who either could not be traced or failed to submit their enumeration forms within the stipulated period.

 

According to the official data, 8.32 lakh names were deleted after the electors were found to be deceased. Another 10.07 lakh electors were removed because they had permanently shifted, were not found during door-to-door verification, had not submitted their enumeration forms by 28 June, or were unwilling to continue as voters for some reason or other.

 

Besides, 1.58 lakh multiple entries were identified and deleted, while around 14,000 names were removed under other categories. "Genuine electors left out of the draft roll can still seek inclusion during the claims and objections period," Gopalan clarified.

 

The draft electoral roll now contains 1,60,19,176 male, 1,53,65,083 female and 2,775 third-gender electors. During the revision exercise, nearly 1.98 lakh fresh voters were also enrolled.

 

The CEO maintained that the SIR exercise was aimed at ensuring "inclusion of all eligible electors and exclusion of all ineligible electors" through a transparent process. He said 93.97 per cent of the state's pre-revision electorate had submitted their enumeration forms. The exercise involved more than 45,000 booth-level officers (BLOs), supervisors, district election officials and over 84,500 booth-level agents nominated by recognised political parties.

 

Officials said the booth-level lists of electors reported as deceased, permanently migrated, untraceable or whose forms had not been received were shared with political parties for verification before publication of the draft rolls. "No name can be finally deleted without due notice and a reasoned order by the electoral registration officer or assistant electoral registration officer. Aggrieved electors have the right to appeal under the Representation of the People Act," they said.

 

The publication of the draft roll, however, immediately drew criticism from the BJD, which alleged that the scale of exclusion was much larger than officially projected and reflected serious flaws in the revision process.

 

Addressing a press conference, Debi Prasad Mishra, senior vice-president of the BJD, claimed nearly 27 lakh voters had actually been excluded instead of the official figure of 20.12 lakh. He argued that there had been inconsistencies in the voter figures released by election authorities at different stages of the exercise.

 

According to the party, while the 2025 final electoral roll contained 3,40,72,744 voters, political parties were informed during meetings in May that the state had around 3.34 crore electors. Later, the figure stood at 3,33,99,591 before the draft roll was published with only 3.13 crore voters. The party questioned the varying official figures and demanded clarification.

 

Mishra alleged that more than 10,000 voters each had been excluded from 75 Assembly constituencies, while over 15,000 electors each were removed from 49 constituencies, raising concerns over the fairness of the exercise. "The objective of preparing an accurate and error-free electoral roll has not been achieved as many genuine voters who have been residing in Odisha for generations have been left out because of procedural complexities. Inadequate training of BLOs and a cumbersome documentation process contributed to the exclusion of eligible electors," he said.

 

The BJD also questioned the unexplained discrepancies involving over seven lakh voters and claimed that while election authorities had assured political parties that inconsistencies would be addressed during the revision, the published draft continued to reflect substantial omissions.

 

Calling voting a fundamental democratic right, the BJD demanded simplification of the SIR process, a fresh verification of the electoral rolls and restoration of all eligible voters whose names had been omitted. While ineligible names should certainly be removed, no eligible citizen should lose the right to vote because of procedural deficiencies, the party maintained.

 

Meanwhile, the Office of the CEO has opened the statutory claims and objections window from 5 July to 4 August, during which voters whose names are missing can apply for inclusion by submitting Form 6 along with the prescribed declaration and supporting documents.

 

Applications can be submitted through BLOs, the ECINET mobile application, the Election Commission's voter portal or the CEO Odisha website. The final electoral rolls will be published on 6 September after the disposal of all eligible claims and objections.