Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Goa Forward Party leader Vijai Sardesai has raised serious concerns over the deletion of voters from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), claiming that as many as 1,27,468 names — around 10.75 per cent of Goa’s electorate, according to his claim — were removed during the exercise.
Sardesai has demanded an immediate review of the deletions and restoration of names of eligible voters, alleging that several citizens were removed from the rolls on what he described as “frivolous grounds”.
The issue, he said, was highlighted by a case involving 97 voters from Taligaon reported by The Indian Express. Sardesai claimed that officials subsequently directed the restoration of the names after discrepancies were detected, and alleged that errors in the Election Commission’s software had contributed to the deletions.
Calling the Taligaon case potentially indicative of a wider problem, Sardesai said the reported deletion of 1,27,468 voters across Goa could be “just the tip of the iceberg”. He also claimed that around 4,500 voters had been deleted in his constituency during the SIR process.
Sardesai argued that the consequences of deletion could extend beyond participation in elections. According to him, electoral-roll status may have wider implications for citizens dealing with government schemes, land-related matters, registrations and other official processes.
He also questioned the broader implications for the electoral process if eligible voters are removed from the rolls because of procedural or software-related discrepancies. Sardesai alleged that such deletions could undermine citizens’ access to electoral justice and described the issue in terms of “vote chori”.
Sardesai has called for a detailed verification of the deleted names and correction of cases where eligible voters were wrongly excluded. He further maintained that decisions concerning the voting rights of Goan residents should be handled by officials in the state and that genuine voters should be restored to the electoral rolls after due verification.
