Bhubaneswar, Oct 15: The Odisha State Election Commission will conduct a statewide door-to-door survey from October 26 to November 7 to identify errors and discrepancies in electoral rolls ahead of the upcoming panchayat and urban local body elections.
State Election Commissioner Madhusudan Padhi said the exercise aims to ensure clean, accurate and impartial voter lists. The survey will be based on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) electoral roll published by the Election Commission of India on September 21.
Teams comprising Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Anganwadi workers, Jalasathis, Swachhasathis and ASHA workers will visit households to collect and verify voter details. The process will be supervised by Panchayat Executive Officers (PEOs), BLO supervisors, Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).
Padhi has appealed to residents to cooperate with the survey. Eligible voters whose names were deleted during the SIR exercise can apply for re-inclusion by submitting the required documents. Form-16 will be used for claims relating to the inclusion or correction of names, while objections to the inclusion of ineligible voters can be filed using Form-17.
Under the proposed arrangement, eligible members of the same family will be listed under a single polling booth to make voting more convenient.
A pilot survey conducted across all 30 districts using the 2025 electoral roll found that nearly 7.61 per cent of ineligible voters remained on the lists, reportedly due to factors such as death or migration. Meanwhile, around 4.87 per cent of eligible voters were missing.
The Commission also plans to increase rural polling booths from approximately 39,000 to nearly 91,000, with one booth for each ward. Panchayat elections will use ballot papers. In urban areas, around 6,000 booths are proposed initially, with additional booths if required. Municipal elections will be conducted using electronic voting machines (EVMs).
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