Amid concerns over voter deletions during SIR exercise, R S Gopalan, chief electoral officer (CEO), Odisha, tells Hemanta Pradhan that the exercise was carried out with multiple safeguards and complete transparencyGiven the scale of deletions, how confident are you that no eligible voter has been wrongly excluded?The deletion of 20.12 lakh names is well within expected limits. Every deletion has been backed by a specific reason. Of the 20.12 lakh names removed, only about 14,000 are cases where enumeration forms could not be collected or verified. These are the only cases where there is a possibility that some eligible voters may have been inadvertently left out.BJD has questioned the drop in voter count. How do you explain this?Electoral roll revision is a continuous process. Before SIR began this year, officials conducted extensive field verification and initially identified around seven lakh names for deletion, followed by another 1.87 lakh in the second phase. Some political parties expressed concern that these deletions could contain errors. We therefore ordered further verification, including checks by senior officers covering 50% of the deleted names. The findings showed an error rate of less than one in a thousand. Every recognised political party is entitled to appoint a booth-level agent (BLA) in each booth, and parties, including the BJD, have done so. Our actions are fully transparent and open to verification.BJD has questioned both the methodology and scale of deletions…The BJD alone has nominated more than 30,000 BLAs. They are free to bring any suspected wrongful deletion to the notice of the BLO or ERO. If any genuine voter has been deleted, corrective action will certainly be taken.Congress has alleged that names of migrant labourers may have been removed…There appears to be some misunderstanding. The presence of one family member is sufficient to confirm the details of the entire family. Even neighbours can verify that a family continues to reside in an area. BLOs have also been instructed to contact voters through video calls wherever necessary.What safeguards were built into the verification process?The entire exercise is governed by the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and Election Commission guidelines. BLOs conducted house-to-house verification and were instructed to remain available at polling stations every evening so that voters who were unavailable during visits could meet them. Wherever mobile numbers were available, BLOs contacted voters directly. Importantly, a BLO cannot add or delete any name. Only EROs can do so, and only through the prescribed process. Safeguards exist at every stage, and political parties have been kept informed throughout.What should voters do if their names are missing?They can file Form 6 until Aug 4. Claims and objections will be processed between Aug 4 and Sept 2. After the final electoral roll is published on Sept 6, voters can again apply through Form 6 from Sept 7 onwards. Applications are accepted throughout the year, except during the brief period when the roll is frozen for revision.
