To understand why your code doesn't work, run this:

items = ['a', '', 'b', '', 'c', '', 'd', '', 'e', '']

print(len(items))

for index, item in enumerate(items):
    print(index, repr(item), items)
    if item == '':
        items.remove('')


When you remove an item, all the remaining items slide over one position, into the slot that has already been inspected. That means that they get skipped.