Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission is conducting a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Odisha to ensure the voter list is accurate and up-to-date ahead of future elections. The process involves extensive door-to-door verification and aims to include eligible voters while removing ineligible or deceased entries.
Key Timeline For SIR 2026
Door-to-Door Verification: May 30 to June 28, 2026
Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will visit households to distribute and collect enumeration forms.
Qualifying Date: July 1, 2026
Individuals who turn 18 on or before this date will be eligible for inclusion in the voter list.
Draft Electoral Roll Publication: July 5, 2026
A draft list will be published, followed by a nearly month-long window for filing claims, objections, and corrections.
Final Publication: September 6, 2026
The final, updated voter list will be published after completing verification, corrections, and grievance redressal.
What Did The CEO Say
Speaking to the media, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R S Gopalan said that preparatory activities will begin from May 20-May 29 during which training will be conducted and enumeration forms for 3.34 crore electors will be printed. Registration of polling stations will be completed by May 28. The main field exercise will begin on May 30 and continue till June 28 during which BLOs will go house-to-house to collect inform
ation. The draft electoral roll will be published by July 5 and claims/objections will be accepted till August 4,” he said.
He further stated that 94.64% people have been mapped. “They are unlikely to face any problem. In other cases, there are some logically errors such as incorrect dates of birth or errors in parents’ names which the BLOs will verify. Accordingly notices will be issued, and hearings will be held from July 5 during which the affected individuals will have to submit supporting documents as evidence. All such issues will be resolved by September 2, before the final roll is published on September 6,” he noted.
“The BLOs are not required to collect any document from the electors during the house-to-house survey,” he clarified, adding that new voters can apply using Form 6, which will be available with the BLO, for inclusion in the electoral roll.
Special attention will be given to tribal areas, urban slums, and colleges to enrol youth. Voluntary Aadhaar-EPIC linking will continue during the drive to remove duplicates.
The CEO said that another 71,32 booths will added taking the total to 45,255. “Volunteers have been appointed at booths to assist in the process,” he said.
He said that there are seven recognised political parties in the state. “They have appointed 27,723 booth-level agents. We have requested them appoint agents for all booths,” he added.
How the Door-to-Door Verification Works
>> BLOs will go house-to-house during the verification period.
>> They will provide enumeration forms to eligible citizens. Two copies of the form will be issued.
>> One signed copy will be given to the citizen as proof of submission.
>> The second copy will be retained by the BLO for official records.
Citizens are expected to fill the forms accurately and return them to the BLOs. They can also download and upload on the ECI site.
Notably, over 9 lakh names have already been deleted from Odisha’s electoral rolls in the past nine months, which the CEO has attributed to higher numbers of people migrating out of the state or passing away.