The Opposition in Odisha flagged blatant discrepancies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process after the draft electoral rolls published on Sunday showed that nearly 20.14 lakh voters' names had been identified for deletion from the state's electorate of 3.33 crore.
While 8.32 lakh of those proposed for deletion were found to be deceased, the Opposition claimed that many of the remaining names belonged to genuine voters who had been marked for removal on grounds such as having moved elsewhere or being absent during the verification process.
The draft electoral rolls, published after a month-long door-to-door enumeration exercise, reduced Odisha's electorate from 3.33 crore to 3.13 crore. The revised rolls comprise 1.60 crore male voters and 1.53 crore female voters.
The Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) expressed concern over what it described as widespread irregularities in the revision exercise, claiming that more than 10,000 names had been marked for deletion in each of 75 of the state's 147 Assembly constituencies.
Senior BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra alleged that numerous legitimate voters had been omitted because of minor anomalies during verification and urged that such names be restored through the claims and objections process, The Indian Express reported.
According to the draft rolls, 10.07 lakh names were deleted after officials concluded that the electors had either migrated or were unavailable during the enumeration, while another 1.58 lakh names were removed because the voters were found to be registered in multiple places.
Chief Electoral Officer R. S. Gopalan said the claims and objections process commenced on Sunday and would continue until September 2, with the final electoral roll scheduled for publication on September 6. Electors whose names are missing from the draft have been asked to submit Form 6, accompanied by the prescribed declaration and supporting documents, either to the local booth-level officer or through the online portal.
To oversee the exercise, 147 Electoral Registration Officers, 994 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers and 10 senior IAS officers have been deployed.
Gopalan emphasised that no name could be deleted without prior notice and a reasoned order by the competent authority. He added that aggrieved electors would have the right to appeal before the District Collector and subsequently the Chief Electoral Officer under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.