Saligao MLA, locals smell a rat in voters list for Reis Magos p’yat

Naik also said that the electoral registration officers (EROs) committed gross errors while preparing the list which was not justified even in terms of the wards/sections.

“When the draft delimitation proposals prepared by the EROs were kept open for public scrutiny, the villagers had raised objection to the draft as the EROs had failed to consider the geographical contiguity and natural boundaries. Further members of a single household were put in different wards,” Naik said.

The Saligao MLA along with former sarpanchas, panchayat members and locals was addressing the media after submitting a memorandum to Mamlatdar of Bardez who is the electoral registration officer.

Naik said the voters list was prepared in a haphazard manner without following stipulated guidelines.

Giving an example, he said Siya Nagvekar who was the voter from ward 8, having a residential house in ward 8 and elected from the same ward has now been shifted to ward 9.

Similarly, an ex-sarpanch who had contested from ward 9 and has a residential house in ward 9 has been shifted to ward 8.

“There is no logic or any reasoning for such shifting. The voters list is untenable and not even depicted in terms of the sections/wards and polling area,” he said.

According to the villagers, the voters list of Reis Magos panchayat that was prepared in 2017 has been interfered on the specious plea of dividing the panchayat area into wards.

They said almost 50 percent of the voters in the voters list have been shifted/altered and fitted in different wards without any basis or without any material.

“The voters list is erroneous and cannot be relied on. The list is illegal and will create confusion as well as mischief in the forthcoming elections and therefore it has to be rectified,” Naik said.

He further said that if the State Election Commission fails to rectify the errors then they may take legal action in the matter.