The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Tuesday said it would oppose a Bihar-like Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Odisha. After a delegation of the BJD met the Election Commission on the latter's invitation to discuss improvements in the election process, the regional party said it would vehemently oppose the implementation of an SIR if it followed the same approach as in Bihar, where the party alleged genuine voters were disenfranchised due to hasty processes. “The SIR should be conducted with the right objective of improving transparency in the electoral process, with active involvement of all stakeholders. No eligible voter should be disenfranchised under the pretext of removing ineligible voters from the electoral roll,” said senior BJD leader Amar Patnaik. The Congress has said it would protest against any SIR in Odisha. Though there has been no communication from the Election Commission to conduct an SIR in Odisha, official sources said the exercise would be conducted along with special summary revision, which is held every year between October and December, while the revised electoral roll is published in January. “We are ready to conduct the SIR whenever the ECI asks for it,” Chief Electoral Officer R S Gopalan told The Indian Express. During its meeting with the ECI, the BJD also reiterated its allegations of discrepancies in the election process during the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2024. The BJD flagged three major concerns — the difference between the total votes polled at each booth and the number of votes counted from the corresponding Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the difference in the votes cast for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections despite them being held simultaneously, and the “huge difference” between voter turnouts released on polling day and the final figure, which the EC released two days later. Patnaik, a former Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) officer, also alleged that the differences between voter turnouts ranged between 15% and 30% in half of the 147 Assembly seats. The BJD has also alleged that the party has not received Form 17C, despite repeated efforts from local election officers to the apex level. Form 17C records voter turnout for each polling booth. The party said it has considered moving the High Court over this issue.
