Bhubaneswar, 10 July (H.S.): Panchayat elections in Odisha are likely to be held in April or May 2027, with the State Election Commission (SEC) indicating that the poll schedule has been pushed back due to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

SEC Secretary Santosh Kumar Dash said the voter list revision is expected to continue until the first week of March, making it impractical to conduct the elections before the completion of the exercise. He clarified that the polls will be held before the onset of the monsoon once the revised electoral rolls are finalised.

Dash said the Commission has already held review meetings with Revenue Divisional Commissioners (RDCs) and District Collectors to assess preparations for both Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) and Urban Local Body (ULB) elections. A routine review meeting has also been scheduled for the 21st of this month.

In a significant departure from previous elections, the SEC will undertake a door-to-door verification drive to prepare the electoral rolls instead of relying primarily on desk-based compilation. The revised voter lists will be created by dividing the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) electoral database ward-wise for local body elections.

According to the Commission, Odisha has 6,794 gram panchayats comprising 91,930 wards or polling booths. The voter verification exercise is expected to begin in October, with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Anganwadi workers assisting in the survey to ensure accurate and updated electoral rolls.

“Once the ECI electoral rolls are published, we will divide them ward-wise through door-to-door surveys. This process aims to create clean, updated, and error-free ward-wise electoral rolls for each booth. Our objective is to ensure that every voter at a booth is accurately listed and can cast their vote there,” Dash said.

Explaining the reason for the revised timeline, the SEC Secretary noted that the upcoming Census operations will overlap with election preparations. “The house-listing phase of the Census has already been completed, while population enumeration will begin in February and continue until March 1. Since the teachers and BLOs engaged in Census work are the same personnel required for election duties, it is practically impossible to conduct the elections before the Census exercise concludes. The election notification will be issued after the Census work is completed in the first week of March,” he said.

The SEC expects the completion of the voter list revision and Census-related activities to pave the way for a smooth conduct of the Panchayat elections before the monsoon season in 2027.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda