Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has lodged a fresh complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Goa, alleging large-scale violations and misuse of Form-7 during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, and warning that the irregularities pose a serious threat to citizens’ constitutional right to vote.
In a detailed representation dated January 19, GPCC president Amit Patkar said the complaint was a continuation of an earlier submission made on January 13, but noted that subsequent disclosures had revealed “far more serious and systemic lapses” in the revision process. The Congress has alleged that Form-7, meant for raising objections to entries in electoral rolls, is being misused to facilitate bulk and mechanical deletion of voters across multiple constituencies.
Patkar stated that official Form-10 data now in the public domain shows that the problem is not limited to a single constituency, but extends across several areas, including Navelim, Tivim and Mapusa. According to the Congress, these records expose blatant violations of SIR guidelines, which restrict an individual objector to filing a maximum of 10 Form-7 objections.
In Navelim constituency, the party claimed that official data shows certain individuals filing up to 78 objections in a single day, with a small group accounting for a disproportionately large number of objections. In Tivim, the situation was described as even more alarming, with some objectors allegedly filing as many as 188 objections, far exceeding the permissible limit. Similar patterns were reported from Mapusa, where objections were said to be concentrated among select individuals repeatedly breaching the 10-objection cap.
The GPCC alleged that the repetition of such extreme violations across three different constituencies indicates a coordinated and systemic abuse of the Form-7 mechanism, rather than isolated errors. Patkar also raised concern over what he termed selective transparency, pointing out that Form-10 data has not been uniformly disclosed for all constituencies, leaving open the possibility of similar or worse irregularities elsewhere.
Calling the situation a direct assault on free and fair elections, the Congress has demanded immediate corrective steps. These include the mandatory public disclosure of Form-10 data for all assembly constituencies, an independent constituency-wise inquiry starting with Navelim, Tivim and Mapusa, and strict action against individuals who exceeded objection limits as well as officials who accepted such objections in violation of guidelines.
The party has further sought disciplinary action against booth-level officers and supervisory officials allegedly involved in facilitating or ignoring the irregularities. It has also demanded an immediate suspension of all voter deletions arising from such objections until proper inquiries, verifications and personal hearings are completed in accordance with the law.
“The right to vote is a basic constitutional right. Any opaque or arbitrary process that enables its dilution must be corrected without delay,” Patkar said, warning that failure to act decisively would severely erode public trust in the neutrality and credibility of the electoral process in Goa.
