PANAJI
Opposition parties in Goa on Thursday accused the Election Commission and the ruling BJP of attempting to influence the 2027 Assembly elections through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demanded that the exercise be rolled back.
The allegations followed a media investigation reporting that 97 Goa voters, who had been examined and found eligible by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), were left out of the final electoral roll because the centralised ECINet system lacked a facility to reverse earlier deletion decisions.
According to the report, the office of the Goa Chief Electoral Officer sent eight emails to the Election Commission between February 11 and 17 seeking a “rollback” facility to reverse the deletion decisions in the 97 cases. The facility was not enabled before the final electoral roll was published on February 21.
The issue also figured in concerns reportedly raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over the centralisation of electoral-roll software.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Working President Sunil Kawthankar alleged that the BJP was trying to use the SIR exercise to influence elections.
“Deletion of names of valid voters amounts to sabotage. The Election Commission of India has become an arm of the BJP, which they are using to win polls,” he said.
Kawthankar demanded that the SIR exercise be rolled back, alleging that the Congress’ growing support had prompted the BJP to resort to such tactics.
Goa Forward Party president Vijai Sardesai also demanded immediate restoration of all deleted voters, except those who had died. He claimed that around 1.8 lakh voters had been excluded from the electoral roll during the exercise.
Sardesai said Goa elections were often decided by narrow margins and argued that, with limited time before the 2027 polls, the Election Commission should roll back the exercise rather than undertake the SIR afresh.
Viriato demands action against CEC over ‘vote chori’
VASCO: South Goa MP Capt Viriato Fernandes on Thursday accused the Election Commission of involvement in what he termed “mega chori” of votes and demanded the arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Fernandes alleged that 97 Goa voters whose names were to be included were removed by amending Form 6 without their knowledge. He claimed around 1.3 lakh names had been deleted in Goa, calling the 97 cases “the tip of the iceberg”.
