Bhubaneswar, 03 July (H.S.): The Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed ten senior IAS officers as Electoral Roll Observers to oversee the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Odisha, aimed at ensuring a transparent, accurate and error-free voter list ahead of future elections.

According to a notification issued by Additional Chief Electoral Officer-cum-Special Secretary Sushant Kumar Mishra, the officers have been assigned district-wise responsibilities to closely monitor the revision process. The qualifying date for the Special Intensive Revision has been fixed as July 1, 2026.

The appointed observers include senior IAS officers Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, Arvind Agrawal, Balwant Singh, B. Parameswaran, Dr. Bijay Ketan Upadhyaya, D. Prasanna Kumar Reddy, Sudhanshu Mohan Samal, Rashmita Panda, Mohammed Sadique Alam and Sangram Keshari Mahapatra, who have been assigned different clusters of districts across the state.

The Election Commission has directed each observer to undertake at least three field visits to the districts under their jurisdiction during the revision period. Besides reviewing the process at district headquarters, the observers will visit polling stations across various Assembly constituencies to assess the implementation of the revision exercise at the grassroots level.

During their visits, the observers will hold meetings with Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), representatives of recognised political parties and election officials to address grievances and seek their cooperation in ensuring the accuracy of the electoral rolls. Members of the public will also be given an opportunity to meet the observers and raise complaints or suggestions related to the voter list.

The observers will closely examine cases where the rate of voter deletion or addition exceeds one per cent above the district average or three per cent in any Assembly constituency. Such cases will be scrutinised based on reports submitted by the concerned District Election Officers to ensure that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible person is included in the electoral rolls.

Following their inspections, the observers will submit detailed reports to the Chief Electoral Officer, Odisha, for further review and necessary action.

Meanwhile, after the completion of the distribution and collection of enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision-2026, the draft electoral roll will be published on July 5, 2026.

The Election Commission has also announced that objections and claims regarding the draft voter list can be submitted between July 5 and August 4, 2026. Eligible citizens can apply for inclusion of their names through Form 6, seek deletion of names through Form 7, and request corrections or modifications through Form 8 after the publication of the draft electoral roll.

The Chief Electoral Officer has reiterated that the objective of the exercise is to ensure a transparent, inclusive and error-free electoral roll by guaranteeing that every eligible voter is enrolled while preventing the inclusion of ineligible names.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda