Bhubaneswar: Names of more than 20 lakh people were deleted from the voter lists following the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision in Odisha as the Election Commission published the draft electoral rolls Sunday.
Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R S Gopalan said the state had 3.33 crore voters when the electoral roll was frozen May 20.
Following the enumeration exercise under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) that was held between May 30 and June 28, the electoral roll now features 3.13 crore voters, including 1.60 crore male, 1.53 crore female and 2,775 third gender voters, he said.
Of the 20 lakh voters whose names were excluded from the electoral roll, 8.32 lakh died, 10.07 lakh shifted elsewhere or remained absent during the exercise, and 1.58 lakh names were found registered as voters in multiple places, the CEO said.
Besides, around 14,000 voters did not return their enumeration forms to the booth-level officers (BLOs) during the enumeration phase, he added.
“The voters, whose names were not there in the draft electoral roll, can submit their claim or objection either through the BLO or through the ECINET mobile app or voters.eci.gov.in,” Gopalan informed reporters at a press conference.
He said that claims and objections will be heard till August 4 and the final electoral roll will be published September 6.
“If someone’s name does not feature in the draft voter list, the person needs to fill up a form and submit it to poll authorities along with a declaration form and other documents,” the CEO said.
Claims and objections will be received from July 5 to August 4, and 147 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and 994 assistant EROs would scrutinise such cases by September 2.
If required, additional officers would be engaged from time to time to dispose of the claims and objections within the prescribed time limit, Gopalan said.