BHUBANESWAR: Days after the BJD announced that it will move the Orissa High Court over large-scale irregularities in 2024 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state, chief electoral officer (CEO) of Odisha RS Gopalan on Monday said the Commission has already responded to the points raised by the BJD twice.
The CEO also said that the special intensive revision (SIR) of voters list will be conducted in the state from next month.
Addressing a media-conference here, Gopalan said the ECI has responded to all issues raised by political parties, especially the BJD and state Congress, and assured the public of a fair and transparent electoral process. “Baseless allegations should not be made to undermine the credibility of the Election Commission or shake the public’s trust in the democratic process,” he added.
The BJD had submitted memorandum to the ECI in November last year alleging that there were large-scale irregularities in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections including discrepancies in number of votes cast in the EVM and those counted. The party had also raised the differences in the number of votes in the Assembly segments and Parliamentary constituencies. The party has announced that it will move the Orissa High Court on the issue as no steps have been initiated by the poll body to satisfactorily address its concerns.
While stating that all the queries of BJD and also Congress have been responded to in detail, Gopalan said the first point raised by the BJD was about discrepancies in the number of votes in the EVM and after counting. It has been clarified earlier that in such cases counting is done taking into account the VVPAT slips. “Some discrepancies occur due to non-deletion of mock poll data in a control unit. Counting is done through VVPAT slips in case the margin is less than the total votes polled in the EVMs,” he said.
Date of SIR to be announced soon, final list on January 7
As regards to differences in votes polled in Assembly segments and Lok Sabha constituencies, the ECI has clarified that a voter may not have voted for both the seats. The numbers were also marginal and did not affect the result, he added.
The CEO also informed that the date of commencement of SIR exercise in Odisha will be announced soon. The final voters’ list after verification under the SIR will be released by the ECI on January 7.
The CEO said that the aim of the exercise is to enhance accuracy and transparency in the voters’ list. He said to encourage wider voter participation in future elections, the number of booths in the state will be increased from 38,000 to 45,000. Over 7,000 duplicate serial numbers in the voters’ list have already been identified and removed to ensure a clean and accurate database, he said.