BHUBANESWAR: The SIR exercise in the state has triggered a major political row with the BJD alleging that in 49 Assembly constituencies, the deletion of names of voters have been more than 15,000.
According to the BJD, the highest 27,653 voters’ names have been struck off the list in Malkangiri Assembly constituency followed by Sanakhemundi and Choudwar-Cuttack constituencies where names of 24,622 and 23,828 have been deleted. Loisingha, Mahanga, Kantabanji, Padampur, Titlagarh and Chikiti constituencies follow with deletion of more than 20,000 voters’ names from the list.
Senior vice-president of the BJD Debi Prasad Mishra said more than 19,000 voters have also been excluded from the electoral roll in Chitrakonda, Digapahandi, Niali, and Cuttack Sadar constituencies. Besides, names of more than 10,000 have been deleted in total 125 Assembly constituencies in the state.
Mishra said as one-month time for raising objections, scrutiny and corrections have commenced after publication of the draft electoral roll on July 5, the party will again approach the Election Commission of India for adopting a transparent process and not to delete the name any eligible voter.
However, state BJP president Manmohan Samal dismissed the concerns raised by BJD and said the SIR has been conducted in the state with complete transparency.
Samal said that SIR is a three-month process and the final electoral roll will be published on September 5. If any voter finds his or her name deleted from the draft electoral roll, he/she can always file an objection within the stipulated time period. The name will be added after submitting all the required documentary evidence to the ECI, he said.
The state BJP chief said there can be deletion of names for various reasons. If a voter is absent or a name has been registered at several places, they will be deleted from the electoral roll. If the name of a genuine voter has been excluded, there are prescribed rules to get it included, he added.
