Bhubaneswar, April 22 -- The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday staged a protest outside the office of the State Chief Electoral Officer, alleging that around 9.8 lakh voters had been removed from the electoral rolls in Odisha.

The protest was led by members of the Biju Yuva Janata Dal, Biju Chhatra Janata Dal and Biju Mahila Janata Dal. The party raised concerns over the large-scale deletion and questioned how such a significant number of names could be excluded from the voter list.

BJD leaders alleged that there could be a political motive behind the removals and demanded a detailed clarification on the process adopted for revising the electoral rolls. They stated that such actions could affect the integrity of the democratic process ...