BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday accused the Opposition, particularly the Congress, of spreading misinformation against a constitutional institution like the Election Commission of India (ECI) to create a negative atmosphere in the country over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Making a statement on SIR, Majhi told media persons that the exercise by the Election Commission is being undertaken after nearly 25 years in the most transparent way backed by digital technology and safeguards for voters. “The Congress is attempting to create a narrative against the ECI for political gains,” he said.
Rejecting the claim that 13 crore voters had been deleted from electoral rolls, Majhi said the figure being cited included around 2.8 crore deceased persons, three crore absent voters, 6.3 crore people who had shifted elsewhere and one crore duplicate registrations.
“Calling these cases as deletion of voters is misleading and against democratic interests,” he said and added that booth-level agents of all political parties were involved in the verification process. Voters also had the right to file claims and objections, he said.
Responding to criticism over Form-6, Majhi said no alteration had been made to the form and that an additional declaration had only been incorporated for the convenience of voters.
He also dismissed claims that electoral roll databases had been centralised. The rolls continued to be managed by the chief electoral officers (CEOs) and electoral registration officers (EROs), with only the process being digitised through ECI-NET and ERO-NET modules, he said.
Majhi said the revision had not affected young voters either. As many as 2.37 crore new voters had been added since June 24, 2025 while the number of voters aged 18-28 stood at 17.38 crore. He said enrolment of eligible young voters remained open throughout the year.
On allegations that the CEC was taking unilateral decisions, Majhi said decisions of the Election Commission were taken unanimously after deliberations among the commissioners. He compared the process with discussions in the state cabinet where ministers raise questions before decisions are taken collectively.
Referring to Congress leader and minister Ramesh Chennithala’s support for SIR in Kerala, Majhi said, “The attempts to create anarchy by attacking the ECI are condemnable.”