Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra on Tuesday (April 21, 2026) urged the Election Commission of India (EC) to ensure that voters’ names are not deleted without a rigorous, documented and independently verifiable field inquiry.

The development comes a day after reports citing a letter from Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R.S. Gopalan to Electoral Registration Officers on April 18, on the removal of 9.8 lakh voters from the State electoral roll since the commencement of the elector mapping process ahead of the special intensive revision exercise.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Mr. Patra stated: “It has been administratively acknowledged that approximately 9.8 lakh electors have been identified for potential deletion during the preliminary verification phase... the scale, pattern, and process underlying these proposed deletions raise serious and substantive concerns.” 

“There now exists prima facie evidence derived from multiple independent reports as well as statements attributable to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Odisha, suggesting procedural irregularities and a real risk of wrongful disenfranchisement.” 

The Odisha CEO had on Monday said his office had received over 2 lakh complaints regarding the removal of voters. He has asked Electoral Registration Officers in all districts to verify the matter.

The BJD MP urged the CEC to “direct a comprehensive, State-wide re-verification of all cases flagged for deletion during the preparatory phase and mandate full transparency through public disclosure of constituency-wise and category-wise data on proposed deletions, along with reasons”.

He also said the EC must establish an independent audit or supervisory mechanism in districts where large-scale discrepancies have been reported.

Meanwhile, former Minister and BJD MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain spoke about a “political conspiracy” to delete voters’ names from the roll.

“Attempt to delete 9.8 lakh voters is not just an administrative error, but a political conspiracy which has earlier been done in other states also,” the former Minister said.

He demanded that the CEO verify all the cases before deleting the names.