Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Sulata Deo on 6 October 2026 alleged that 27.5 lakh voters in Odisha had their names struck off the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, describing the deletions as a fundamental subversion of democratic principle. Speaking amid a large opposition protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi, Deo framed the controversy in stark terms: in a healthy democracy, citizens choose their leaders — but the SIR, she argued, had inverted that relationship entirely.

Scale of the Deletions

Deo cited figures that, she said, underscored the gravity of the situation. 'In Odisha, the names of around 27.5 lakh voters have been deleted in the SIR, and across India, the names of 13 crore voters have been deleted. What kind of democracy is this? This is not democracy at all,' she said. The BJD leader pointed to a specific instance in Dhamnagar in Bhadrak district, where, she alleged, 227 minority voters in a single ward were removed from the rolls. She noted that a Booth Level Officer (BLO) had raised an objection and spoken publicly about the process, following which the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) was suspended.

BJD's Independent Stand

Deo was careful to distance the BJD from both major political formations while explaining the party's decision to join the march. 'We are neither with the INDI alliance nor with the NDA. As a responsible political party, we are concerned about the names of people being deleted during the SIR,' she said. She added that BJD president Naveen Patnaik had a single guiding principle — standing with the people of Odisha — and that this was not the first occasion on which Patnaik had sought CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.

Allegations Against CEC Gyanesh Kumar

The BJD MP levelled pointed accusations at the Election Commissioner personally. She alleged that Kumar had previously claimed all SIR decisions were taken keeping the Supreme Court informed, but that the court itself had reportedly contradicted this. 'How many lies is Gyanesh Kumar going to utter?' she asked. Deo also recalled a controversy from March in which an Election Commission letter was reportedly sealed with a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stamp rather than the Commission's own seal, arguing that the institutional integrity of the ECI had been compromised long before the present crisis. She further alleged that Kumar had not complied with directions from his two colleagues, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

The Wider Protest

INDIA bloc MPs marched towards the ECI office carrying Tricolours and banners reading 'Save Democracy', raising slogans against the CEC, the BJP, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, along with several other INDIA bloc leaders, staged a dharna after they were stopped from proceeding to the ECI headquarters. The BJD's participation gave the protest a cross-party character, extending its reach beyond the formal INDIA bloc membership.

With the Supreme Court's observations on the SIR process still reverberating and opposition pressure on the CEC intensifying, the coming days will test whether the Election Commission moves to address the deletions — or whether the controversy deepens into a full-blown constitutional confrontation.