MAPUSA
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday told the Goa Legislative Assembly that dual voting cards cannot be cancelled immediately due to procedures involved but assured to conduct an inquiry in the illegalities carried out at ‘Lala ki Basti’ in Tivim where over 100 people were issued voting cards without house numbers.
St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar brought to the attention of the House that 164 persons residing at ‘Lala ki Basti’ in Tivim were issued election cards but these people were staying in rooms which had no house numbers.
“In Lala ki Basti, people are residing in premises which have no house numbers but yet they are issued election cards. How is it possible? This is totally illegal,” Borkar said.
He further read out names of people in Mapusa who have voting cards in Goa and Maharashtra.
Similarly, he said, there were people in Zaurinagar basti in St Cruz who had voting cards in Goa and in Karnataka.
“What is the State Election Commission doing? What is the duty of the EROs and BLOs? Can’t the department take action against people who move around with dual election cards?” he asked.
He said the SEC and the officers concerned have failed to do justice to their jobs.
The CM informed that the data regarding the numbers of cases of dual voting cards was presently not available in the State after the migration of ERONet 1.0 to ERONet 2.0 which happened in November, 2022.
“The election officials have to follow procedures. People have to voluntarily fill either Form 6 or 8 for new enrollment or migration. During special summary revision and continuous updation the entries of Goan voters found to be registered in multiple States are deleted by the concerned officer of the assembly constituency,” Sawant said.
The St Andre MLA informed that Goan voters were forced to link their Aadhar card to the Voter card but no such efforts were made in bastis which exist in different parts of the State.
Mayem MLA Premendra Shet said that dual voting cards was a very serious issue and the mamlatdars were not cooperating in the cancellation of such cards.
“These dual voting cards should be immediately cancelled,” Shet said.
Sawant informed that the dual voting cards could not be cancelled immediately as due procedures have to be followed.
Siolim MLA Delilah Lobo said the linking of Aadhar to Voter card should be made compulsory instead of voluntary.
