The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Odisha’s electoral rolls concluded on Monday with Chief Electoral Officer R.S. Gopalan announcing that Odisha’s electorate reduced by about 17.67 lakh names, a net deletion of around 5.3%. Before the SIR began, Odisha had 3,33,99,591 electors. The draft electoral roll published on July 5 had 3,13,87,034 while the final roll, published on September 21, had 3,16,32,754 voters.
When the Election Commission released draft rolls for the third phase covering 17 states and UTs, Odisha’s 6.03% deletion rate was the second-lowest, after Mizoram’s 5.27%. Lakshadweep had the lowest exclusion rate across all 30 states and UTs covered by the exercise, followed by Mizoram and Odisha. Of the roughly 20.12 lakh draft-stage exclusions, 8.32 lakh were deceased voters, 10.07 lakh had permanently shifted or could not be traced, and 1.58 lakh were identified as duplicate registrations. Fourth: The state’s electoral rolls had already undergone scrutiny before the 2024 elections. In 2023, the Chief Electoral Officer had conducted a special summary revision drive to remove about 3.45 lakh deceased voters.
Yes. Second: Odisha had a relatively low number of duplicate registrations.
Opposition Biju Janata Dal had approached the Election Commission in August 2025, before the SIR began in Odisha, urging that migrant workers’ names should not be removed from electoral rolls. The deletion of more than 20 lakh names at the draft stage triggered a political debate involving the BJP, BJD and Congress. In Bhadrak district allegation were raised over Form-7 applications seeking deletion of names of minority voters, with residents alleging that some applicants did not live in the locality and could not have known whether the voters concerned had shifted or died.
But those reported allegations and not an established finding against the electoral authorities. The party which ruled the state for nearly two and half decades had a robust cadre strength at each of the constituencies for political scrutiny, along with local-level verification, may have encouraged officials to exercise greater caution while dealing with migrant and seasonally absent voters. No. The BJD alleged a lack of transparency and questioned the disclosure of details relating to deleted names while the Congress sought more time and a public awareness campaign to help affected voters restore their names. Does the publication of the final roll end the process for voters who have been deleted? The conclusion of the SIR does not end the regular process of electoral-roll revision. Voters whose names have been deleted can seek appeal first to the District Collector and then to the Chief Electoral Officer of Odisha.
