Odisha almost ready to conduct SIR: Official

Bhubaneswar, Jan 13 (PTI) Preparations for the upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Odisha are in the final stage, though the EC is yet to announce the schedule for the exercise, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer and Special Secretary Sushanta Kumar Mishra said the state has been preparing for the SIR for the past five months.

The revision, to be conducted after a gap of 23 years, was last carried out in 2002.

“We have been making preparations for the last five months, and it is almost at the final stage,” Mishra said.

He said the number of polling booths in the state has increased to nearly 43,000 from 36,000 with the addition of around 7,000 new centres.

“Our effort is to limit the number of voters in each booth to 1,200, ensure that every eligible voter is properly registered and strengthen polling infrastructure ahead of upcoming elections,” he said.

As part of the preparations, around 45,000 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have been appointed and trained in phases, Mishra said, adding that training has also been imparted to district election officers, mostly collectors, and assistant returning officers (AROs) in the rank of additional district magistrates.

He said the SIR process involves integrating voter data from the 2002 and 2025 electoral rolls to ensure that names included in earlier lists remain valid while new eligible voters are added.

“Nearly 70 per cent of the mapping work has been completed, and the remaining will be finalised before publication of the updated rolls,” Mishra said. PTI AAM NN