Goa CM to seek extension for appeals against voter deletions amid SIR row

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant told the Goa Legislative Assembly that he would request Election Commission (EC) to extend the deadline for filing appeals against voter name deletions

Panaji: Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday told the Goa Legislative Assembly that he would request the Election Commission (EC) to extend the deadline for filing appeals against voter name deletions during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state.

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant said, “I want to assure that no original Goan will see his name deleted.” (X/DrPramodPSawant)

There have been allegations that genuine voters are finding their names marked as dead, permanently shifted, duplicate, or not traceable, while those registered in multiple states are not being tackled.

“The government’s intention is clear that a person should be at one place. I want to assure that no original Goan will see his name deleted. I will request the Election Commission to extend the time period to appeal notices and voter name deletions,” Sawant said.

Leader of opposition Yuri Alemao and Congress legislator advocate Carlos Alvares Ferreira on Thursday said this was a mass exclusion exercise.

The ongoing SIR exercise has identified and removed 100,042 names from the draft roll, marking a deletion percentage of 8.44%. Out of an initial electorate of 1,185,034, enumeration forms were collected from 1,084,992 electors, amounting to 91.56% coverage. The draft roll flagged 25,574 electors as deceased, 72,471 as shifted or absent, and 1,997 as enrolled at multiple places, chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel said.

Alemao alleged that voters have been marked for deletion mainly because enumeration forms were not collected. “Non-collection of a form cannot legally mean that the voter has shifted, the voter is dead, the voter is duplicate, or the voter is ineligible. This approach equates absence with disqualification, which is neither fair nor lawful,” he said, adding that many students are studying outside the state and many Goans are working abroad.

“When voters see their names missing from the draft roll without any prior mandatory notice, trust in the electoral system is shaken. Mass deletion based on non-collection of forms is procedurally flawed,” Alemao said.

Ferreira said that at a booth in his constituency, more than 90% of voters had either found themselves marked as ‘unmapped’ or deleted on account of being marked as dead, permanently shifted, forms not submitted, or duplicate.

“I have got 159 names in part number 20 of the Aldona constituency marked as dead, untraceable, etc. There is Nita Shripad Thali, Sikandar Shripad Thali—he’s a lawyer, my colleague, he goes to court, he’s practising—a very well-known, very well-respected family in the village. Vidyasagar Thali—all have been marked as untraceable and absent. They have not gone for a holiday; they are all here. Glenn Thomas Gomes, Godfrey Thomas Gomes—just knocked off the list by saying they are untraceable. Very much active in the village. Everyone knows them. How does the BLO not know them? What kind of work is he doing?” advocate Carlos asked.

“From this same booth, there are 150 absent or dead, and 365 not mapped. The draft roll has 434 voters. If 365 are removed, we will have only 65 voters remaining on the roll in that booth,” he said.

Goa is one of the states where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is being conducted. The previous SIR was held in the state in 2002, and all voters currently enumerated as part of the ongoing SIR exercise who cannot point to their name, or the name of a parent or relative, listed in the SIR list of 2002 are categorised as ‘unmapped’ voters and issued notices to provide documents concerning their citizenship.

Former Navy captain and Congress South Goa MP Viriato Fernandes and former chief of naval staff Admiral Arun Prakash were issued notices asking them to appear with documents after being flagged as “unmapped”.

The Chief Minister said that the “intention of the SIR is clear, it has to be about one citizen, one vote.