Bhubaneswar: Following the removal of around 20.12 lakh voters from the draft electoral roll published by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Odisha, on Sunday, opposition parties on Wednesday questioned why nearly 14,000 enumeration forms were not returned.Officials from the CEO’s office said electors whose forms did not reach personnel engaged in SIR exercise can resubmit them for inclusion in the rolls.Congress state president Bhakta Charan Das said the system lacked transparency. “Why did thousands of enumeration forms not return? If the system is not transparent, questions will obviously arise over the SIR process. Have they notified that 14,000 enumeration forms have not been returned?” Das asked.The Congress state chief said 14,000 is not a small number. “They are also voters. Where did they go? What happened to them? I really wonder how the 3.4 crore voters listed in the final electoral roll in 2025 became 3.33 crore voters within a few months. And now they have removed 20.12 lakh voters in the recent draft electoral roll. This shows how the SIR process is being conducted,” he said.BJD general secretary Bijay Nayak said the draft electoral roll raised doubts. “The Chief Electoral Officer, Odisha, agreed that 14,000 enumeration forms did not return. But he did not clarify why 3.4 crore voters in the final electoral roll in 2025 became 3.33 crore a few days before the SIR process began,” Nayak said.CEO, Odisha, R S Gopalan said the office had reasons for the removal of 20.12 lakh voters, except in the case of 14,000 electors. “We could not collect the forms back. There is a chance that some of them, not all, might have missed out. We are very confident that the number of people inadvertently deleted would be very low, and whenever they come forward, we will include them again through the procedure,” Gopalan said.BJP spokesperson Manoj Mohapatra said the SIR process was being done smoothly. “Booth-level agents of all political parties were present during the entire process. They can raise the issue if some people’s names are not included. This issue should not be politicised,” Mohapatra said.
