Odisha Chief Electoral Officer R.S. Gopalan announced that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state will start on May 20, 2026. The qualifying date for inclusion of new voters is set for July 1. Citizens who turn 18 by July 1, 2026, and meet other requirements will be added to the electoral rolls during this revision.
Preparatory activities, such as training programs and printing work, will take place from May 20 to May 29. Door-to-door verification by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will begin on May 30 and run until June 28. The rationalization of polling stations is also scheduled to be finalized by June 28. The draft electoral roll is expected to be published on July 5.
The period for filing claims and objections will be from July 5 to August 4. The disposal of claims and objections will continue until September 2. The final electoral roll is planned to be published on September 6. After the completion of the SIR process, the number of polling booths in Odisha will increase to 45,255, with the addition of 7,132 new ones. Each booth is expected to serve around 1,200 voters on average.
Gopalan mentioned that approximately 27,723 Booth Level Agents have been appointed by seven recognized political parties in the state. He urged the parties to appoint agents for the remaining booths as well. Currently, Odisha has over 3.34 crore voters registered in the electoral rolls, with mapping of voters completed for 94.61% of the electorate. Nearly 9 lakh names of voters have been identified for deletion during the pre-SIR process.
