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 on Sunday.
Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R S Gopalan said the state had 3.33 crore voters when the electoral roll was frozen on 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 men, 1.53 crore women and 2,775 third gender people, 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 told the reporters at a press conference.
He said that claims and objections would be heard till August 4 and the final electoral roll would be published on 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.
Commenting on the draft electoral rolls, BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra alleged, “Not 20 lakh, names of over 27 lakh voters were deleted from the lists. They have hidden the names of another 7 lakh voters.”
Congress Legislature Party leader Rama Chandra Kadam alleged that the deletion of names of 20 lakh voters, who are “against the ruling BJP”, was a “conspiracy”.
Kadam said his party would raise the issue inside and outside the assembly in the coming days.
Reacting to opposition leaders’ statements, BJP MLA Babu Singh said the ECI has revised the voters’ list, not that of the BJP.
“Those who have any objection to the draft list can submit claims to the ECI through proper channel,” Singh said.
