Bhubaneswar: A day after Odisha chief electoral officer R S Gopalan sought voluntary retirement citing personal reasons, his exit triggered a political slugfest, with BJD and Congress linking it to concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls even as the BJP accused the opposition of needlessly politicising a personal decision.Deputy leader of opposition and BJD MLA Prasanna Acharya said while Gopalan had cited personal reasons, the resignation came at a time when Election Commission of India has been facing criticism over the conduct of the SIR exercise, raising doubts in people’s minds.According to the BJD legislator, the opposition was dissatisfied with the process. “In a small state like Odisha, nearly 20 lakh voters were deleted. It’s shocking,” Acharya said.BJD MLA Arun Sahoo said the resignation was bound to raise questions at a time when political parties and student groups have been demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das said the timing of Gopalan’s resignation raised several questions. “He must have been under pressure to do something he would not have done, or he may not have wanted to be part of wrongdoing during the SIR process,” Das alleged.Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam claimed pressure from govts to bend rules and align with political interests was taking a toll on officers. “The CEO’s resignation amid nationwide criticism of the SIR exercise has fuelled suspicion,” Kadam said.Rejecting the opposition’s allegations, BJP MLA Irasis Acharya said the matter should not be politicised. “The senior IAS officer has cited personal reasons. It should not be given a political colour,” the BJP MLA said.Speaking to TOI, Gopalan said he had applied for voluntary retirement solely on personal grounds. The 1968-born, 2001-batch IAS officer said he had been contemplating leaving the service for several months, but chose to stay until the completion of the SIR exercise and publication of the final electoral rolls.As CEO, Gopalan had ordered an inquiry on Sept 7 after BJD had alleged large-scale deletion of minority voters from electoral rolls in Dhamnagar town of Bhadrak district. The party claimed that more than 3,000 voters were removed from 19 booths despite completing the verification process. The probe resulted in the suspension of Santosh Kumar Nayak, assistant electoral registration officer and executive officer of Dhamnagar NAC, on Sept 22, while most of the deleted voters were subsequently restored in the draft rolls.BJD had alleged that booth-level officers (BLOs) were pressurised into deleting voters’ names without following prescribed procedures during SIR. Party general secretary Bijay Nayak said BJD had submitted evidence regarding the deletion of 3,165 minority voters and alleged that “a conspiracy is being carried out to delete the names of eligible voters”.In a memorandum submitted to the CEO, BJD had alleged that BLOs were threatened with show-cause notices and other administrative action if they failed to comply with instructions to delete voters’ names, and demanded an immediate, impartial and transparent investigation.
