Bhubaneswar, July 6: The Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) alleged large-scale exclusion of eligible voters from Odisha's draft electoral roll published under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, claiming the exercise was marred by discrepancies.
Addressing a press conference, BJD Senior Vice-President Debi Prasad Mishra said there were major inconsistencies between the electoral rolls shared at different stages of the revision. He noted that while the 2025 final electoral roll showed 3.40 crore voters, the draft roll released on Sunday listed only 3.13 crore voters.
Mishra alleged that around 27 lakh voters had been excluded, higher than the Election Commission's reported 20.14 lakh deletions, and claimed the objective of preparing an error-free electoral roll had not been achieved.
The BJD also alleged that several long-time residents were left out due to procedural complexities, non-disclosure of details relating to over seven lakh voters, and inadequate training of Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The party demanded immediate corrective measures, fresh verification, simplification of the SIR process, and restoration of all eligible voters while removing ineligible names.
