Soon after SIR, Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer applies for voluntary retirement

You don’t have any Active Subscription.

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee workers hold a protest march to CEO office during nationwide demonstrations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR row, in Bhubaneswar. File | Photo Credit: ANI

Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer R. S. Gopalan has applied for voluntary retirement from service after the process of Special Intensive Revision got over in the State.

The 1968-born and 2001-batch IAS officer Mr. Gopalan, applied for VRS on Wednesday (September 30, 2026). He was quoted as saying that his application for VRS was on the grounds of personal reasons and has nothing to do with SIR process.

With one and a half years left until retirement, Mr. Gopalan oversaw the SIR process in Odisha, which, according to him, was less controversial compared to those in other States. The Biju Janata Dal had, however, submitted a number of memoranda alleging exclusion of voters from the voter list. Odisha’s final electoral roll was published on Monday (September 21, 2026).

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.