BJD parliamentarian Sasmit Patra has unleashed a barrage of questions against the Election Commission following the controversial purge of around 9.8 lakh names from Odisha’s voter lists under the SIR drive. In an interview from New Delhi, he called it a ‘black mark’ on electoral integrity, unprecedented in magnitude.
Confirming complaints received by the state CEO, Patra pointed to glaring lapses: no proper field verification, a Form-7 backlog of 2 lakh objections sans action plans, and deletions that scream malpractice on first glance. Odisha has never seen such a sweeping removal before, he noted, raising fears of targeted disenfranchisement ahead of elections.
Breaking it down, Patra listed the anomalies—evident wrongful cuts, missing mandatory inspections, historical outlier numbers, and unresolved grievances. While re-checks are pledged, the absence of deadlines keeps voters in limbo.
His demands are crystal clear: freeze deletions pending exhaustive checks and public hearings; disclose booth-wise deletion lists across constituencies; empower citizens with full appeal rights. Patra pressed for a high-level EC team to probe the SIR rollout and protect the 9.8 lakh affected.
Shifting gears, Patra voiced worries on the US-Iran standoff, with talks stalled and ceasefire ending April 22. Trump’s stern warnings underscore risks if nuclear negotiations don’t resume, pitting US demands against Iran’s security stance. Optimism lingers for a pre-deadline breakthrough.
