Hans News Service Bhubaneswar

DeputyElection Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti directed Odisha district collectors-cum-electoral registration officers (DEOs) to ensure that no eligible voter is left out during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in the state.

Bharti issued the direction on Tuesday while reviewing the progress of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and holding discussions with collectors and DEOs of nine districts on the status of implementation, an official statement said. He reviewed the distribution of enumeration forms, the extent of digitisation completed so far, and issues causing delays in the process, it said.

During the meeting, the officials informed that out of around 3.33 crore registered voters in the State, 3.16 crore (94.6 per cent) had been successfully mapped before the start of the SIR exercise, leaving 5.34 per cent unmapped.

“As of today (June 16), 99.20 per cent of enumeration forms have been distributed to voters, and 46.44 per cent of these forms have already been digitised,” officials said, adding that Sundargarh district was the top performer in both form distribution and digitisation.

Expressing satisfaction with the pace of work, Bharti directed officials to complete the entire process before the June 28 deadline.Meanwhile, Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer R S Gopalan said the official deadline for form distribution and submission is June 28, but officials have been asked to complete the process by June 23–24.