Odisha CEO, who oversaw SIR, applies for voluntary retirement
What's the story
R Santhana Gopalan, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Odisha, who oversaw the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in the state, has applied for voluntary retirement, with around 18 months of service left. The 2001-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Odisha cadre, who is from Tamil Nadu, submitted his application on Wednesday, HT reported. He cited personal and health reasons unrelated to his work as the reason for his decision.
Career overview
Gopalan appointed as CEO in July 2024
HT, citing people aware of the matter, said the IAS officer had been considering quitting for months.
But he delayed the decision until the SIR process was completed and the revised electoral roll was published.
Gopalan was appointed as the CEO of Odisha in July 2024. He was also the deputy director-general at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) during his career spanning around 25 years.
Controversial revisions
Final electoral roll published on September 21
His decision to retire comes after he oversaw the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Odisha, which had been mired in controversy with opposition parties alleging voter deletions.
The final electoral roll for Odisha, with 31.6 million voters, was published on September 21 after the SIR.
However, opposition parties such as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress raised concerns over the deletion of around 1.7 million names from the voter list.
ECI under fire
Election commissioners raised objections to decisions taken by ECI
Gopalan's retirement decision also comes amid scrutiny of the Election Commission of India (ECI) after the Indian Express reported last week that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections to decisions taken in the name of the ECI at least 14 times over 10 months.
These disagreements included changes to Form 6 for including names in electoral rolls, centralizing controls in Delhi, voter deletion appeals in West Bengal, and not adding eligible voters in Goa.
Cadre exits
Other recent resignations from Odisha cadre
In recent years, several IAS and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers from the Odisha cadre have resigned.
Notably, IAS officer VK Pandian resigned in October 2023 and joined the BJD. His wife Sujata Karthikeyan also resigned from service in March 2025 before joining BJD this June.
IPS officer Jagmohan Meena took voluntary retirement last month to join a corporate house, while CA Ramdas (2025 batch probationer) resigned early this year during training at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy Hyderabad.