Bhubaneswar: The State Election Commission (SEC) will launch a door-to door survey October 26 to prepare electoral rolls for the 2027 panchayat and urban local body elections. The survey will continue till November 7, State Election Commissioner Madhusudan Padhi said Thursday.
The draft electoral rolls will be published January 1, 2027, giving voters 20 days to file claims and objections. After verification of the applications and completion of the necessary procedures, the final electoral rolls will be published February 10.
Addressing a presser organised by the SEC, Padhi said the exercise aims to make the electoral rolls accurate, transparent and well-organised ahead of the elections. The survey will focus on ensuring that all eligible voters in a family are listed under the same ward and polling booth, allowing family members to cast their votes at the same polling station.
Voters from the same locality will also be grouped under a common polling station wherever possible. Under the proposed system, the names of all eligible voters in a family will be listed sequentially in the electoral roll of the same ward and booth.
Each household will be assigned a unique house number, which will be linked to the names of all voters residing there. The commission has urged political parties to appoint booth-level agents to help make the survey participatory and ensure proper verification of voter details. During the survey, booth-level officers (BLOs), Anganwadi workers, Jalasathis, Swachh Sathis and ASHA workers will visit households to collect the required information and verify existing electoral records.
Panchayat executive officers, BLO supervisors, assistant electoral registration officers and electoral registration officers will oversee the exercise. After publication of the draft rolls January 1, voters will be able to check their names and other particulars and submit claims or objections within the stipulated 20-day period.
Separate forms have been prescribed for rural areas, urban areas and municipal corporation jurisdictions for the inclusion, correction or deletion of names. For adding names or seeking corrections, voters in rural areas will have to use Form 16, those in urban areas Form III, and those in municipal corporation areas Form VII.
For seeking deletion of names, Form 17 will be used in rural areas, Form IV in urban areas and Form VIII in municipal corporation areas. Claims and objections will be scrutinised by the assistant electoral registration officers and electoral registration officers, who will take necessary action in accordance with the rules before the final rolls are published.
The SEC said the entire exercise would be completed within the prescribed schedule to facilitate the preparation of electoral rolls for the forthcoming panchayat and urban local body elections. State Election Commission Secretary Santosh Kumar Dash and Deputy Secretary Durga Charan Murmu were also present at the press conference.
