PANAJI: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Tuesday alleged political interference in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, claiming Booth Level Officers (BLOs) were being pressured to selectively delete opposition supporters while protecting allegedly bogus voters.
Addressing a press conference, Congress leaders presented examples from Panaji and Margao, alleging serious inconsistencies in the handling of objections and deletions. GPCC leader Sunil Kawthankar alleged that BLOs in Panaji were functioning under pressure from local BJP leaders and Revenue Minister Babush Monserrate, rather than following Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines.
“The question is, was this entire SIR exercise done to revise electoral rolls or to delete opposition voters?” Kawthankar asked, alleging that the Congress had identified instances of “vote theft” in Goa. He stressed that the party was not seeking deletion of genuine voters and urged legitimate voters whose names had been objected to or deleted to use the prescribed process, including Form 8, to protect their registration.
CCP councillor Leonid Furtado said the Panaji Congress team began examining electoral rolls on June 9 after finding that voters continued to be registered at demolished government quarters in Altinho. According to Furtado, more than 250 voters were listed across three buildings that had been completely demolished.
“We started this application process, and for 30 days they sat on the matter. No action was taken,” Furtado alleged. He said the matter was subsequently brought before the Chief Electoral Officer, following which directions were issued to the Collector, Mamlatdar and BLOs to act on the Form 7 applications.
Furtado claimed Congress had identified more than 500 problematic names in Panaji and that over 200 had since been deleted at the Deputy Collector level, with proceedings continuing on around 300 others. He also alleged that 29 deletion applications in Part 1, Ribandar, were rejected by BLO Prashant Kuttikar without hearings. Furtado questioned the basis for the rejection and alleged that Kuttikar was related to a sitting panch member.
“When you are related to a sitting panch member, will you do justice to your job?” he asked, demanding Kuttikar's removal and the appointment of another BLO. Furtado also sought removal of BLOs handling Parts 14 and 30, alleging around 70 deletion applications in Mala and Tonca had been rejected. “The last election winning margin was 683. Seventy is almost 10% of the voting margin. Every vote is crucial,” he said.
He further alleged that people working as domestic help and car washers had been registered as voters at high-value flats in Tonca, allegedly based on NOCs, questioning whether proper rental and tenant verification had been carried out.
Congress representative Savio Coutinho said similar issues had been identified in Margao, particularly Part 11, where voters were allegedly registered at locations where structures no longer existed. He also alleged “multi-layering” of voters in Part 15, Azad Nagar, where names of former tenants allegedly remained on the rolls even after they shifted, while new tenants were added at the same addresses.
Coutinho said a Congress member had filed an RTI seeking details of applications, hearings and appeals under SIR in South Goa. Congress claimed the response showed several applications and appeals remained pending or had been rejected and that no delegation order was available for certain powers exercised by officials.
Congress spokesperson Amit Palekar alleged that comparing April and July electoral rolls showed systematic deletions. “Nearly half of the voters have been deleted in certain pockets. Around 4,700 voters have been deleted,” Palekar alleged, claiming many belonged to minority communities and that some had voted in the previous two elections.
Kawthankar warned election officials against allegedly illegal political instructions. “BLOs should not obey illegal orders from the government. Respect the Constitution, respect the law and do what the law says. Do not succumb to anyone's pressure,” he said.
“Our intention is not to target any individual voter. We are questioning the entire process, the mismanagement and the misrepresentation,” Kawthankar said, demanding verification and documentary evidence for rejected objections.
