Bhubaneswar: The first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Odisha witnessed an overwhelming response, with 3,13,87,034 electors—93.97 per cent of the state’s 3,33,99,591 registered voters—submitting their Enumeration Forms, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Odisha RS Gopalan said.
With the publication of the draft electoral roll July 5, the exercise has entered its next phase.
Eligible voters whose names are missing from the draft roll can apply for inclusion during the Claims and Objections period from July 5 to August 4, 2026.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) said the Special Intensive Revision aims to ensure that every eligible citizen is included in the electoral roll while removing ineligible entries through a transparent and participative process.
The enumeration phase, conducted from May 30 to June 28, was carried out with the support of the entire election machinery.
The exercise involved 31 District Election Officers (DEOs), 147 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 994 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), 4,540 BLO Supervisors and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) across 45,250 polling booths.
The process also witnessed active participation from all seven recognised political parties, which collectively appointed 84,594 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to assist in verification and voter outreach.
According to CEO RS Gopal an, electors whose names do not appear in the draft roll gener ally fall into one of the follow ing categories: those who have registered as voters in another State or Union Territory, those who could not be traced during the house-to-house verifi cation, those who failed to submit their Enumeration Forms by the June 28 deadline, and those who were unwilling to continue as registered electors.
The Commission clarified that genuine eligible voters still have an opportunity to restore their names by submitting Form-6 along with the prescribed declaration and supporting documents during the Claims and Objections period.
The CEO also stated that electors found enrolled at multiple locations will have their names retained only at one place after due verification.
To maximise voter participation, the Election Commission launched extensive awareness campaigns across Odisha. BLOs conducted door-to-door visits to distribute Enumeration Forms and made at least three follow-up visits for collection.
Special voter camps were or ganised across urban and rural areas, while repeated training programmes, video tutorials and doubt-clearing sessions were held for election officials to ensure smooth digitisation and verification of the collected forms.
A dedicated monitoring team at the CEO’s office supervised the entire process and resolved field-level issues.
Booth-level lists of electors reported as deceased, permanently shifted, untraceable or those who had not submitted forms were shared with Booth Level Agents of recognised political parties for cross-verification, adding another layer of transparency to the exercise.
Election officials and volunteers also extended special assistance to senior citizens, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups to facilitate their participation.
The CEO said District Election Officers personally monitored complaints and addressed issues reported through print, television and social media during the enumeration phase to ensure that no genuine grievance remained unattended.
