SIR gets underway in Sambalpur

Sambalpur: The special intensive revision (SIR) process has been launched in Sambalpur
district to prepare a clean, error-free and updated electoral roll. Collector (Sambalpur) Siddheshwar Baliram Bondar said booth-level officers (BLOs) will conduct a door-to-door survey across the district from May 30 to June 28 to collect and verify voter information.

During the survey, each voter will be provided with two enumeration forms. Voters are required to fill in their correct details, sign the forms and return them to the BLOs. A total of 948 BLOs have been deployed in both urban and rural areas of the district for the exercise.

Following the completion of the data collection process, the draft electoral roll will be published on July 5. Citizens will have an opportunity to raise objections or submit claims regarding the draft list between July 5 and August 4. Thereafter, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) will hear and examine all objections and claims before taking a final decision. The final electoral roll is expected to be published in September.
The Collector informed that voters whose names are not linked to the 2002 electoral roll will have to furnish supporting documents such as a birth certificate or valid documents of their parents to establish eligibility
for inclusion in the voter list.

For tenants and homeless persons, eleven categories of documents issued by the Odisha Government or the Government of India—including Forest Rights Act (FRA) pattas, caste certificates and residence certificates—will be accepted as proof of identity and residence. In the case of women who have moved into the district after marriage from other districts, BLOs will collect the necessary information through their
families.

Expressing confidence in the awareness and cooperation of the people of
Sambalpur, the Collector urged all residents to extend full support to the
BLOs during the verification drive. He also noted that the voter list
revision programme is being carried out across Odisha according to a
uniform schedule.