Odisha’s voter enrolment drive added more than 33,500 electors between October 7 and 9, including 1,448 people who were left out during the state’s special intensive revision of electoral rolls, according to the chief electoral officer’s office.
The three-day campaign was conducted on the directions of the Election Commission of India amid concerns over the exclusion of names during the SIR exercise. It focused on eligible citizens whose names were missing from the electoral rolls, as well as first-time voters who turned 18 on or before October 1, 2026.
Deputy chief electoral officer Laxmi Prasad Sahu said more than 26,000 special camps were organised across Odisha during the drive. Booth-level officers also carried out door-to-door visits in several areas to identify eligible applicants and assist them with registration.
“More than 1,400 Form 6 applications received during the campaign were from left-out electors,” Sahu said. Form 6 is used to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll. Official sources said most of the 1,448 electors had not been included during the SIR process because they were not present at their registered polling booths when verification took place.
The enrolment process will continue through the rest of the month, Sahu said. Eligible citizens whose names are missing from the rolls can submit Form 6 through booth-level officers. The chief electoral officer’s office has also asked voters to verify their names in the electoral rolls and apply for inclusion wherever necessary.
Applications collected during the drive are being scrutinised by electoral registration officers, assistant electoral registration officers and booth-level officers before eligible applicants are added to the voter list. Booth-level agents representing different political parties also participated in voter awareness and registration activities at the grassroots level.
The campaign saw significant participation from young electors, with a large number of first-time voters applying for enrolment, according to the CEO’s office. Citizens who turned 18 on or before October 1, 2026, are eligible to register.
The drive followed the deletion of more than 17 lakh names during Odisha’s SIR exercise. The final electoral roll published on September 21 recorded the state’s electorate at 3.16 crore. The deleted names included around two lakh absent electors, 8.8 lakh voters who had permanently shifted, 8.32 lakh deceased voters, 1.58 lakh duplicate entries and nearly 14,000 cases involving age-related discrepancies.
With enrolment continuing through the month, electoral officials are now expected to process the applications received during the special campaign and add eligible citizens to the rolls after verification.
