Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has participated in an Opposition parties’ protest march in New Delhi over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the alleged deletion of voters’ names across the country.

Acting on the direction of BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik, the party’s Members of Parliament joined the protest march to the office of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Manas Mangaraj, BJD Parliamentary Party Leader in the Rajya Sabha, said Patnaik had already demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over controversial decisions related to the SIR exercise.

The BJD has raised concerns over the alleged exclusion of more than 20 lakh voters in Odisha and over 13 crore voters across the country during the electoral roll revision.

The party also cited the situation in Dhamnagar, where 227 votes belonging to members of a minority community were allegedly deleted from a particular area without the knowledge of the concerned Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The BJD said the incident has raised questions over the transparency and integrity of the SIR process.

According to Mangaraj, thousands of voters have reportedly been excluded from electoral rolls in the Dhamnagar Assembly constituency. He also said the voluntary retirement application submitted by the State Chief Electoral Officer had added to the concerns surrounding the issue.

The BJD further referred to observations made by the Supreme Court regarding the modification of Form 6. Mangaraj said the court had clarified that it had not issued any direction for such a modification, raising questions about the Election Commission’s earlier position on the matter.

The BJD said its participation in the protest should not be seen as an alignment with either the INDIA bloc or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The party has maintained that it will continue to keep equal distance from both alliances.

“As a responsible political party committed to protecting democratic institutions and the integrity of the electoral process, the BJD will participate in today’s programme,” Mangaraj said.

Meanwhile, security has been tightened in central Delhi ahead of the Opposition march. Delhi Police, the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and other security personnel have been deployed in large numbers, with barricades put up around Parliament and the ECI office.