Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the upcoming panchayat and municipal elections, the Odisha State Election Commission (SEC) is set to undertake a special pilot survey in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) areas to rectify discrepancies in electoral rolls.
The door-to-door pilot survey will be conducted from September 3 to 11 across three wards representing the three Assembly constituencies in Bhubaneswar. The exercise will cover Ward No. 10 under Bhubaneswar North Assembly constituency, Ward No. 35 under Bhubaneswar Central and Ward No. 52 under Bhubaneswar Ekamra.
Based on the outcome of the pilot exercise, a statewide door-to-door survey will be conducted from October 26 to November 7 to streamline electoral rolls for panchayat and urban local body constituencies across the state.
The survey primarily aims to resolve issues such as members of the same family being assigned to different polling booths and discrepancies or lack of clarity in house numbers.
In several urban areas, Assembly polling booths lack clearly demarcated geographical boundaries, resulting in voters from 10 to 12 different localities being grouped under a single booth. In some instances, residents of one ward are also required to cast their votes in another ward.
The SEC believes such arrangements may discourage voters from visiting polling stations and could be one of the factors contributing to lower voter turnout in urban areas.
During the survey, efforts will be made to ensure that members of the same family are mapped to a common polling station, wherever feasible. Voters residing in the same ward but listed under electoral rolls of different wards will also be identified and their records appropriately streamlined.
The State Election Commission has appealed to citizens to cooperate with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and other officials engaged in the exercise by providing accurate and complete information.
State Election Commissioner Madhusudan Padhi said the initiative is aimed at creating a transparent, error-free and systematically organised electoral roll across Odisha.