Team Goemkarponn
Panaji: South Goa Member of Parliament Virajto Fernandes has said he received a notice from the Election Commission of India asking him to appear with documents to prove his identity to retain his name in the electoral roll, under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
In a statement, Fernandes said the notice was issued despite the fact that all candidates contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, including himself, had undergone extensive scrutiny before their nominations were cleared.
He said he has been a registered voter since 1989, after the voting age was lowered to 18 during the tenure of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Fernandes also recalled that during his 26 years of service in the Indian Navy, he travelled to Goa from distant postings on several occasions only to exercise his franchise in Lok Sabha, Assembly, panchayat and zilla parishad elections.
“If a sitting Member of Parliament can be subjected to this level of scrutiny, one can imagine the difficulties faced by an ordinary citizen,” Fernandes said. He added that the notice strengthens concerns raised by opposition parties and civil society organisations that the Special Intensive Revision being carried out by the ECI could result in the deletion of names of genuine voters and prevent them from participating in the democratic process.
The Election Commission is currently conducting the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in various parts of the country.
