Review meeting on SIR in Balangir

Balangir: A district-level review meeting was convened on Friday at the DM's conference hall in Balangir to oversee the successful and transparent execution of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Odisha-2026, following directives from the Election Commission of India.The meeting was chaired by the DM and district election officer Gaurav Shivaji Isalwar. Representatives from various political parties attended the session to deliberate on strategies for a smooth and clean revision of electoral rolls.Addressing the gathering, the DM stressed the highest priority on preparing an error-free and transparent voter list. He directed officials to generate widespread awareness to achieve 100% registration of eligible youth aged 18 years and above. Furthermore, instructions were issued to remove names of deceased and shifted voters from the list and to process applications for correcting erroneous names and addresses within the stipulated deadline."The SIR process will be conducted in a transparent manner in the entire district. I appeal to the public to cooperate with the officials when they conduct the door-to-door survey," said Isalwar.Political parties have been asked to appoint Booth Level Agents (BLAs) for every polling station. These agents will coordinate with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to assist in corrections, inclusions, and deletions in the draft roll, Isalwar added.As per the SIR Odisha–2026 schedule (qualifying date: July 1, 2026), BLOs will conduct door-to-door enumeration from May 30 to June 28. The draft voter list will be published on July 5, with claims and objections accepted until August 4. The final voter list is set for release on September 6, 2026. The SIR is being conducted in Balangir district during the third phase of the state SIR process.The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Deputy Collector (Elections) Suryakanta Parida.Key officials present included additional DM Pabitra Behera, Balangir sub-collector Alok Kumar Patel and Titilagarh sub-collector Padmanabha Samantaray.