PANAJI
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjay Goel, IAS, on Wednesday cast doubt over the December 13 schedule for the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) elections, revealing that his office had earlier formally requested the State government to defer the polls until the completion of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Speaking to the media after an all-party meeting on the SIR process, Goel stated that the final rolls will only be published on February 7, 2026.
“We had advised the government to consider postponing the elections to ensure updated rolls are used,” he said.
Although the government has announced December 13 as the tentative polling date, the official notification detailing the election schedule is yet to be issued.
Goel’s remarks gain significance amid mounting objections from political parties.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by national general secretary Pankaj Gupta, former Delhi chief minister and Goa in-charge Atishi, and Goa unit president Amit Palekar, had last week met the full Election Commission in Delhi and submitted a written memorandum opposing the overlap of the SIR and ZP poll processes. The Congress too has flagged the issue at multiple media briefings.
With the final rolls due in February and a formal request of the State CEO, the next move of the State government and the State Election Commissioner (SEC) Menino D'Souza, vis-a-vis issuing the formal ZP election schedule notification, will be closely watched.
