PANAJI: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Thursday demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) scrap the electoral roll prepared under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), alleging violations of statutory provisions and irregularities in the revision process. The party has given the authorities 10 days to act, warning that it will approach the court if its demands are not met.
Led by GPCC president Girish Chodankar, Congress leaders staged a protest outside the Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office at Altinho, Panaji, against what they termed “Vote Chori”. The party submitted a written representation to Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel, demanding that the SIR process be scrapped. “We have brought to the CEO's notice that the entire SIR process is fraudulent and illegal. The Election Commission has violated Sections 21 and 22 of the Representation of the People Act,” Chodankar alleged.
He argued that the ECI's notifications and guidelines could not override statutory provisions. Chodankar claimed that 1,39,634 voter names, accounting for around 11.84 per cent of Goa's total voters, had been illegally deleted during the revision. The GPCC president outlined three principal grounds for the party's opposition to the SIR.
First, Chodankar questioned the decision-making process within the ECI, alleging that the decision to conduct the revision had been taken by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar alone, without the collective approval of the three-member commission. “Any decision of the Election Commission of India should be taken either by consensus, where all three agree, or if there is no consensus, they go by majority, that is, two,” he said.
Claiming that the party possessed supporting documents, Chodankar alleged that the other two Election Commissioners were unaware of the guidelines issued for the SIR. He argued that this raised questions about the validity of the decision. “The decision was not taken by the Election Commission of India. Therefore, the entire SIR process is nullified, is illegal, and should be scrapped,” he said.
Second, Chodankar alleged that the revision violated Sections 21 and 22 of the Representation of the People Act. He maintained that the approved electoral roll published on January 6, 2025, should have served as the basis for the exercise. Instead, he claimed, authorities prepared a separate draft roll, bypassing the existing electoral roll. He also alleged that voters whose names were deleted had not received the notices or hearings required under the law. “Section 22 of the Representation of the People's Act is completely violated by illegally removing somebody's name who was an existing voter in Goa,” he said.
Third, Chodankar argued that administrative guidelines could not override statutory provisions without amendments to the relevant law. “If they wanted to do this, they should have amended the Act. But they have only issued the guidelines, and guidelines cannot override the Act,” he said. Chodankar also questioned the timing of notices issued to voters affected by the revision, alleging that the authorities' subsequent actions indicated that the required procedures had not been followed earlier.
He further raised concerns about the functioning of local administrative authorities and the role of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in the revision process. Alleging a lack of transparency, he claimed that some BLOs were receiving instructions at BJP and MLA offices and questioned whether the process was being conducted impartially. Chodankar further alleged that there were instances of local officials disregarding written orders issued by district-level authorities. He criticised the CEO's alleged lack of response to the party's complaints, saying it had deepened Congress's concerns about the process.
Reiterating the 10-day deadline, Chodankar said the party would initiate legal proceedings if the authorities failed to act. “If they are not doing this, then we are free to move to the court. We will challenge this SIR's illegality,” he said.
