Dhamnagar

Dhamnagar Notified Area Council Executive Officer Santosh Kumar Nayak has been suspended. This follows allegations of misconduct during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Officials took action after reports showed over 3,000 voters were marked for deletion across 11 wards.

Details of the suspension

Additional Chief Electoral Officer issued the suspension order. This followed a recommendation from the Election Commission. Reports state Nayak misused Form-7 applications. He also obtained one-time passwords from booth-level officers to skip required checking steps. These actions were reportedly meant to remove voters from minority communities without proper checks. Booth-level officers have also filed a formal complaint at the local police station about this incident.

Opposition party BJD in Odisha has raised concerns about the current Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Party leaders say names of people from minority communities are being taken off the voter lists on purpose.

These claims focus on the misuse of Form-7, the form used to request name removal. Complaints have come from the Dhamnagar area in Bhadrak district. People claim local officials pressured booth level officers to delete names without proper checks or verification.

Request for investigation

BJD sent a formal notice to the Chief Electoral Officer. They want a clear investigation into these actions. The party is asking for the suspension of those officials from election work while the inquiry happens. The final voter list comes out on September 21. Because of this, the party says all disputed cases must be checked again to make sure everything is fair for every voter.

Leaders from Biju Janata Dal recently met the Chief Electoral Officer to raise concerns about the current voter list update. They state that minority voters are being unfairly targeted for removal in Dhamnagar. The party pointed to over 3,000 potential deletions across 19 polling booths.

Election integrity concerns

Debi Prasad Mishra led the group. They asked for strict action against officials who might be changing the verification process. This is a problem for many people. Election authorities said the final electoral roll will be out on September 21. Officials are currently processing thousands of applications for new registrations and corrections. Chief Electoral Officer R S Gopalan promised that the scheme aims to cover all eligible citizens.