Citizens’ group questions election body over voters’ roll for CCP polls

MARGAO
The Citizens for Democracy has demanded that the State Election Commission (SEC) use the final electoral roll under SIR (to be released on February 21) for the City Corporation of Panaji (CCP) elections to ensure the most current data is utilised for the upcoming polls.
In the alternative, Citizens for Democracy convenor Elvis Gomes said the SEC should clarify the legal standing upon which the poll body justifies using an outdated roll when a more accurate, legally binding roll will be released shortly and come into force at the time of the election.
He further demanded that the SEC notify the public immediately of the steps taken to prevent the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters from Panaji whose names may not figure in the rolls in force as against the SIR Final Roll.
The CFD has further demanded that the SEC hold elections simultaneously with other councils.
In a representation given to the SEC, the group said the SEC's intent of going ahead with elections based on an electoral roll replacement which is imminent calls for immediate justification from the commission. While Section 13 of the CCP Act mandates the use of the Assembly rolls "for the time being in force”, he said this must be interpreted in the context of the Special Internal Revision (SIR) currently underway in terms of the RP Act 1950.
“After hearing that you have resorted to the use of the electoral roll as in force in the State in terms of Section 13 of the CCP Act 2005, we wish to seek justification about the rationale in doing so in the light of the SIR final roll, which was expected to be out on February 14 but is now scheduled to be out on February 21. Elections as per records were last held on March 20, 2021 to the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), which you have scheduled for March 11, 2026,” Gomes said.
“Assuming the roll was out on February 14 as was initially declared, would it hold good to declare the elections today based on the roll in force as on January 1, 2025?”
He said until justification is received from the SEC, it is felt that the current roll as on February 21, 2025 is set to become infructuous as it will be superseded by the final roll under SIR.
“Consequently, any ward-level rolls derived from such a roll will also be infructuous, as they will no longer reflect the official ‘roll in force’ as per the ECI. By ignoring the new roll set to be out in six days, it appears that the SEC is knowingly proceeding with data that is at total variance with the latest ECI records. This will result in a situation wherein the roll prepared through a time-consuming elaborate SIR exercise for the ‘cleansing of electoral roll’, which the ECI is defending in the Supreme Court, will become a nullity when it comes to implementation of the same. This is likely to compromise the integrity of the whole process,” Gomes added.