VASCO
South Goa Member of Parliament Captain Viriato Fernandes on Thursday expressed serious concern after receiving a notice from the Election Commission of India (ECI) asking him to appear with documents to prove his identity in order to retain his name in the electoral roll.
Fernandes said the notice comes despite the fact that every contestant in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, including himself, was subjected to the “highest level of scrutiny” by the ECI before being cleared to contest the polls.
Pointing to his long record as a voter, the MP said he has been exercising his franchise since 1989, after the voting age was lowered to 18 following an initiative of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
He recalled that during his 26 years of service in the Indian Navy, he travelled to Goa from distant places of posting on several occasions solely to cast his vote in Lok Sabha, Assembly, Panchayat and Zilla Parishad elections.
“If a sitting Member of Parliament, whose credentials were thoroughly verified just months ago during the Lok Sabha elections, can be subjected to such scrutiny again, one can only imagine the plight of the common citizen,” Fernandes said.
He added that the notice appeared to validate concerns raised by opposition parties and civil society groups regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise being carried out by the ECI.
According to him, there is growing apprehension that the process could lead to the deletion of names of legitimate voters, thereby preventing them from participating in the democratic process.
Fernandes has appealed to the Election Commission to ensure that voter verification exercises are transparent, fair and do not disenfranchise genuine voters.
Authorities point to system glitch
Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, Mormugao, has issued a clarification that the Booth Level Officer of Part No. 19 had collected the enumeration form of Captain Viriato Hipolito Mendonca Fernandes during the SIR exercise where it was observed that the form did not contain mandatory details from previous SIR, including Assembly Constituency number, part number and serial number in the electoral roll.
Officials stated that since these particulars were not filled, the BLO application could not be automatically linked with the existing electoral roll record.
As a result, the system categorised the form as “unmapped” and, as per prescribed procedure, a hearing notice was generated and issued automatically.
