Bhubaneswar: At a time when the national capital is witnessing continuous protests against the alleged removal of names following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Odisha, is conducting a special drive across all Assembly constituencies in the state to include eligible voters who may have been left out.

The drive involves 31 District Election Officers, 147 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 719 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), 4,540 Booth Level Officer (BLO) Supervisors and 45,250 Booth Level Officers (BLOs).

Eligible voters have been advised to check their names in the final electoral roll and file claims or objections, wherever necessary. Form-6 can be used to apply for enrolment as a new voter. The CEO’s office said voter enrollment is a year-round exercise, allowing eligible persons to apply for inclusion at any time of the year.

On the other hand, Form-7 can be used to raise objections to the proposed inclusion or seek deletion of a name from the existing electoral roll. Form-8 is meant for shifting residence, correction of entries in the electoral roll, replacement of the Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) and marking a person with disability (PwD).

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For grievances related to the electoral roll or assistance with filing Form-6, people can contact the 1950 helpline or visit helpdesks at the offices of District Election Officers at the district level and Electoral Registration Officers at the Assembly constituency level during office hours.

The SIR of electoral rolls in Odisha was recently completed, and the final roll was published, with 20.56 lakh electors removed after verification. The CEC had said that the total deletion of around 20,56,000 (6% of the roll) was ‘very little.’

While the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had strongly opposed the SIR of electoral rolls in Odisha, terming the process as arbitrary and responsible for the large-scale deletion of genuine voters, the BJP Chief Minister had defended the exercise, saying it was necessary for free and fair elections.

Meanwhile, the Odisha State Election Commission is also set to undertake a statewide door-to-door survey from October 26 to November 7 to identify errors in electoral rolls ahead of the panchayat and urban local body polls.

According to Odisha State Election Commissioner Madhusudan Padhi, the objective of the exercise is to ensure a clean, accurate and impartial voter list which will be based on the SIR electoral roll published by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

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The household survey will be conducted by teams comprising BLOs, Anganwadi workers, Jalasathis, Swachhasathis and ASHA workers.

A pilot survey based on the 2025 electoral roll across all 30 districts revealed that 7.61 per cent of ineligible voters remained enrolled, owing to factors such as death or migration, while 4.87 per cent of eligible voters were left out. The statewide drive aims to rectify these gaps in the electoral roll.