Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: GPCC president Amit Patkar raised serious concerns over the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging lack of training among election officials and harassment of residents in Vasco. Patkar arrived in Vasco on Friday evening following complaints from local Congress leaders about voters being harassed during the SIR process.
Patkar, along with a Congress delegation and local leaders, met the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) and Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) at Ravindra Bhavan. He also interacted with a large number of residents who were waiting for their hearings and heard their grievances firsthand.
Speaking to reporters later, Patkar said local Congress leaders had been assisting residents facing difficulties with the SIR exercise. “For the last few days, local leaders were repeatedly requesting me to come here, as people were extremely frustrated. When I arrived, a hearing was in progress and I was invited inside. I was only observing the process,” he said.
Patkar claimed that during the hearing, a resident whose name figured in an unmapped list produced a copy of his passport, which was rejected by officials. “In front of me, the officials said a passport was not applicable and showed him a list of 13 documents, asking him to return after two days. Our South Goa district president Savio D’Silva immediately pointed out that a passport is very much included in the Election Commission’s list of valid documents,” he said.
“The passport itself establishes the identity of a citizen of this country. How can any official reject it? This clearly shows that AEROs and EROs are not properly trained for the SIR job. The DEO has failed to train these officers,” Patkar alleged.
He said he immediately brought the issue to the notice of Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel. “The Election Commission has laid down clear guidelines. Officers cannot function as they please. Rejecting a passport only adds to the frustration of Goans. It was only after our intervention that officials started accepting passports,” he said, demanding an explanation from the Election Commission on why a document listed by it was being refused.
Patkar also alleged misuse of objections during the revision process. “There are cases where random persons have raised objections seeking deletion of names, but when we contacted one such objector, he clearly said he was not even aware of any objection made in his name. This is a fraud carried out by a political party using someone else’s identity,” he alleged.
He said while the system may generate reports, verification was the responsibility of booth level officers. “The BLO must verify whether the person whose name is marked for deletion is actually residing in the area. What we are seeing is a political vendetta. The BJP is using SIR systematically to target certain sections of society,” Patkar alleged.
Questioning the authenticity of passports being rejected, Patkar said, “My question to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs is whether passports issued to Indian citizens are fake. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs must answer this in Parliament.”
Patkar further claimed that names of people born and residing in the area for decades were being proposed for deletion. “People are literally begging for hearings to protect their voting rights,” he said.
He also criticised the lack of public awareness. “There is no proper system from the Election Commission to educate Goans, and the irony is that even officers are confused about what work they are supposed to do. We have raised these issues earlier, submitted representations and will again meet the CEO on Monday with a strong recommendation letter detailing the discrepancies we have observed,” Patkar said.
