BHUBANESWAR: Amid the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in nines states and three Union Territories, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar is set to arrive on a three-day visit to Odisha from Saturday, triggering speculations over the exercise being carried out in the state soon.
Kumar is scheduled to hold meeting with booth level officers (BLOs) at the OUAT auditorium here on December 29. Although the Election Commission of India (ECI) has not formally announced Odisha’s inclusion in the SIR next cycle, the CEC’s direct engagement with BLOs has fuelled buzz that the state may be gearing up for the intensified field-level voter verification.
Sources said, 1,000 BLOs from Khurda and Cuttack districts have been invited for the meeting on Monday and the government expects the attendance of around 800 BLOs, the grassroots backbone of the state’s election machinery. Prior to the BLOs meet, the CEC will hold a meeting of senior officials and review the preparedness.
After the first phase of the SIR in Bihar earlier this year, the second phase of the exercise is going on in 12 states and UTs, covering around 51 crore voters. Odisha is expected to be covered in the third phase along with remaining states and UTs. Before the Odisha visit, the CEC had also visited Telangana and interacted with the BLOs in Hyderabad. Telangana is also among the states where SIR will be conducted in the next phase.
Odisha has historically witnessed periodic summary revisions of electoral rolls, particularly ahead of major elections, but the activities did not involve door-to-door verification. The last full-fledged SIR in the state was undertaken in 2002.
The state has consistently added a significant number of first-time voters during revision drives. It also faces challenges related to duplicate entries and migration from neighbouring states. As per the final roll 2024, Odisha has 3.32 crore voters, including 1.68 crore men and 1.64 crore women. The state has around 45,000 polling stations.
Earlier, state’s chief electoral officer RS Gopalan had reviewed the readiness of the districts for the exercise. The collectors were asked to prepare a comparative analysis of electoral rolls between 2002 and 2025.
Apart from official engagements, the CEC’s itinerary includes a visit to Puri to offer prayers at the Shree Jagannath Temple before proceeding to Konark Sun Temple on Saturday. He will also visit the heritage village of Raghurajpur, Dhauli Shanti Stupa, Khandagiri and Udayagiri caves and Mukteswar Temple on Sunday.