Eighty-one of the 97 voters who were left out of Goa’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) have now approached election authorities seeking to have their names included again.
The voters have submitted Form 6 for fresh inclusion in the electoral rolls. Election officials said each application would be examined along with the supporting documents before a decision is taken.
According to officials, efforts are continuing to establish contact with the remaining 16 voters whose names were among those omitted. Some of them are believed to be living outside Goa or overseas due to employment-related reasons.
Officials said voters who are currently away from Goa can also use the online system to submit Form 6 and apply for inclusion.
The authorities said the inclusion process can be completed well before the next Assembly elections, subject to verification of the applications and documents.
The issue involving the 97 names had earlier attracted attention after a media investigation questioned how the voters were excluded from the final roll despite their cases having reportedly been examined by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).
The controversy also centred on the ECINET system used for electoral roll-related processes. A report had stated that election officials did not have an operational option to reverse certain deletion decisions. The Goa Chief Electoral Officer’s office had reportedly approached the Election Commission in February seeking a mechanism to reverse the deletions before the final roll was published.
Following the issue, election authorities maintained that eligible voters would continue to have an avenue to seek inclusion in the electoral rolls.
As part of the wider SIR exercise, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are also visiting voters who have received notices over unmapped records or discrepancies in their electoral details. The BLOs are tasked with collecting supporting documents and uploading them to ECINET for consideration by the concerned ERO.
The Election Commission has said that voters generally will not have to appear personally before an ERO or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO), with online hearings available in exceptional cases.
The continuous updation process remains open for eligible citizens, including young and first-time voters and those whose names were omitted during the SIR exercise.
