Bhubaneswar, July 5: More than 20 lakh names have been removed from Odisha's draft electoral roll as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R.S. Gopalan informed on Sunday.
According to Gopalan, a total of 20.14 lakh voters have been deleted from the draft electoral roll following the revision process. After the update, Odisha now has 3.13 crore voters in the draft roll, including 1.60 crore male voters, 1.43 crore female voters, and 2,775 third-gender voters.
The CEO said the primary objective of the exercise was to remove ineligible names from the electoral roll and ensure that the voters' list remains accurate, inclusive, and error-free.
“The 2025 electoral roll, as of 20 May, contained 3,33,99,591 electors. We printed the enumeration forms for all of them for verification. Out of these, 3,13,87,034 voters have been verified, and their names have been included in this draft roll. We have 20,12,557 voters who are either absent, deceased, shifted, or have not submitted their forms,” said Gopalan.
Of the names deleted from the draft roll, 8.32 lakh belonged to deceased voters, 10.70 lakh were removed due to voters having shifted residence or remaining untraceable, while 1.58 lakh names were deleted because of multiple enrolments. In addition, around 14,000 electors did not submit their enumeration forms, officials said.
Gopalan assured that eligible voters whose names have been deleted mistakenly need not worry, as they can apply for inclusion in the electoral roll. Citizens can verify their names by contacting their respective Booth Level Officers (BLOs) or checking the official election website.
Those whose names are missing can submit Form-6 along with Annexure-4 for fresh enrolment.
He added that all Indian citizens aged 18 years and above are eligible to apply for inclusion in the voters' list.
The CEO further informed that claims and objections can be submitted till August 4, while the final electoral roll will be published on September 6 after the disposal of all applications and objections.
Earlier on Saturday, Gopalan chaired a virtual meeting with 10 newly appointed senior IAS officers designated as Electoral Roll Observers (EROs). During the meeting, he directed the officers to closely monitor the scrutiny of the draft electoral roll and the disposal of claims and objections to ensure that no eligible voter is left out during the SIR exercise.
The observers have been instructed to maintain the accuracy, inclusiveness, and integrity of the electoral roll throughout the revision process.
