Bhubaneswar: On a day the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear pleas of irregularities against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, pertaining to Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Odisha’s chief poll monitor R S Gopalan categorically denied any foul play in the voter list revision in the just concluded process.
“Odisha followed every step listed in the book and every step to make sure the process was transparent,” chief electoral officer Gopalan asserted.
Addressing allegations of the deletion of around 27 lakh voters, Gopalan explained that the state had around 3.42 crore voters after the special summary revision in January 2025. Before the SIR began there were some additions and deletions, bringing the figure to about 3.34 crore by May 20, 2026. A pre-SIR mapping exercise traced 95 per cent of voters back to the 2002 roll, leaving around 12 lakh unmapped. After the house-to-house survey, around 20 lakh names were removed from the draft electoral roll, comprising roughly 8.8 lakh deceased, 8.32 lakh permanently shifted, about two lakh who could not be traced, and 1.58 lakh duplications.
During the claims and objections period another 44,000 deletions occurred (around 20,000 from 58,000 Form-7 applications and 24,000 from the remaining unmapped voters) against 2.75 lakh additions, resulting in a final electoral roll of about 3.16 crore electors published on September 21.
Deletions during the SIR process totalled around 20.12 lakh, or about 6 per cent of the roll. Odisha’s final roll stands at 3,16,32,754 electors (1,61,30,319 males, 1,54,99,661 females and 2,774 third-gender).
The CEO emphasised that unmapped voters were given options to submit declarations from 12 prescribed documents, and the full list of 20 lakh deleted names was placed in the public domain and shared booth-by-booth with political party Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to maintain transparency. Notices were issued to around 58 lakh voters, yet Booth Level Officers shouldered the workload without forcing people to stand in the sun for hours. He maintained that exclusion from the SIR is not a permanent disqualification and genuine eligible voters can rejoin anytime via Form 6.
Also Read: Former Odisha DGP Abhay Calls SIR ‘Inherently Flawed’ Amid Special Drive To Enrol Left-Out Electors
Regarding application tampering, he noted that Dhamnagar was the sole isolated incident where an AERO unlawfully forced BLOs to share credentials, leading to an immediate police complaint and the official’s suspension. Elsewhere, excess Form-7 attempts were rejected during verification; only 58,000 such applications were received in total, of which about 20,000 were accepted.
On the timing of his VRS application, which drew opposition questions, Gopalan clarified that neither the government, the ruling party nor the Election Commission of India had ever asked him to perform any illegal task during his tenure as CEO since July 2024. Wherever he recommended action against erring officers, the government acted, he said in a telephonic interview to TNIE.
‘Pressure To Quit’
These clarifications come two days after Congress leaders Bhakta Charan Das and Rama Chandra Kadam alleged that Chief Electoral Officer Gopalan’s resignation amid the controversial SIR process suggests he faced undue government pressure to compromise rules or facilitate political wrongdoing.
BJD president and Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik also demanded a thorough review of the SIR and reiterated earlier calls for CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over reported differences among commissioners, while noting the party’s consistent opposition to the exercise. BJD legislator Acharya, while strong dissatisfaction with the process, had called the deletion of nearly 20 lakh voters in a small state like Odisha “shocking.”
Meanwhile, The Election Commission has launched a door-to-door verification campaign by Booth Level Officers in 20 states and Union Territories where SIR is complete, including Odisha, to identify and assist eligible left-out voters, first-time voters and young citizens in filing Form 6. Each BLO is to visit at least 20-25 households weekly, with the drive expected to finish in about a month.
Today’s Hearing
The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana will be hearing petitions by Rakesh Kumar Singh and advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi seeking suspension of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and challenging decisions, guidelines and software changes allegedly made without the concurrence of Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The pleas cite at least 14 recorded objections over the past 10 months to SIR-related orders, including alterations to Form 6 requiring ancestral details without statutory amendment, and issues in Goa and West Bengal.
Petitioners seek to preserve the multi-member character of the Commission, declare unilateral actions void, and in one case initiate criminal proceedings.
Also Read: SC To Hear Petitions Against CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s Alleged Unilateral Decisions Today
The Election Commission, on the other hand, has maintained that differing views are normal in deliberations and all orders carry full legal sanction.
