CEC begins 3-day Odisha tour, calls BLOs ‘pillars of election process’

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday (December 27, 2025) began his three-day tour of Odisha, and described the booth-level officers (BLOs), whom he will meet later, as the “pillars of the election process”.

Accompanied by his family, Mr. Kumar arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here and straightaway went to Puri for ‘darshan’ of the sibling deities — Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.

“I have come to Odisha with my family to have darshan of Lord Jagannath, to understand and experience the local culture, and also to meet our booth-level officers, who are the pillars of our election process. We will be in Odisha for two to three days,” Mr. Kumar told reporters in Bhubaneswar.

While Mr. Kumar is scheduled to visit Puri and Konark on Saturday, he will visit several heritage and cultural sites, including Raghurajpur village, renowned for ‘Patachitra’ paintings, Dhauli Shanti Stupa, the twin hill complexes of Khandagiri and Udayagiri, and the Mukteswar Temple in Bhubaneswar.

Before concluding his visit, Mr. Kumar will interact with around 700 BLOs from Khurda and Cuttack districts on December 29 in Bhubaneswar.

The BLOs will play a major role in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Odisha, which is likely to be conducted by the EC in the third phase.

The EC conducted SIR in Bihar in the first phase, and the exercise is underway in 12 states and Union territories in the second phase. Odisha, and the remaining states and UTs are expected to be covered in the third phase.