Finance
The Odisha State Election Commission (SEC) will conduct a statewide door-to-door voter verification drive beginning October 26 as part of the electoral roll preparation for the upcoming Panchayat and Urban Local Body (ULB) elections. The exercise, which is set to go until November 7, will commence once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list is completed.
The conference, presided over by State Election Commissioner Madhusudan Padhi, was attended by Commissioners of all Municipal Corporations, District Collectors, Deputy District Collectors, and Deputy Collectors in charge of elections. The Commissioner had comprehensive meetings with all District Collectors about various issues of the impending elections. SEC Secretary Santosh Kumar Dash said survey teams would be constituted by July 31 to ensure the smooth conduct of the exercise.
Each team will include Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Anganwadi workers, and ASHA workers who will conduct house-to-house verifications to identify eligible voters, update electoral rolls, and correct inconsistencies.
According to the Commission, the draft publication and following revision procedure would result in the publishing of the final electoral rolls for all wards across the state by February 10, laying the groundwork for the Panchayat and ULB elections.
As part of its poll preparation, the Commission opted to repair existing vote boxes and purchase new ones to meet election criteria.
In an effort to ensure free and fair elections, the SEC will also launch a de-duplication application to detect duplicate voter registrations. The digital tool will verify that no voter is registered in more than one constituency or able to vote from multiple places.
The Commission stated that the verification exercise is meant to improve the accuracy of electoral rolls and strengthen the electoral process ahead of the state’s local body elections.
