Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: South Goa MP Capt Viriato Fernandes on Thursday accused the Election Commission of involvement in what he termed a “mega chori” of votes and demanded action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the electoral-roll revision process.
Fernandes alleged that the controversy over voter records amounted to a “systematic crime and criminal activity” and called for Kumar’s arrest. He also claimed that the Congress had reached the conclusion that there appeared to be an alliance between the BJP and the Election Commission.
The MP further alleged that the other two Election Commissioners had raised objections and issued notices several times over the past 10 months regarding the functioning of the Commission under Kumar, but claimed that their concerns were not acted upon.
Referring to Goa, Fernandes alleged that 97 voter names that were found eligible for inclusion in the electoral roll were not included in the final roll. He claimed the names had been removed or could not be restored through the electoral-roll system without the voters’ knowledge.
The issue of the 97 voters has been at the centre of a recent controversy. Reports indicate that the Goa Chief Electoral Officer’s office had sought a technical rollback facility from the Election Commission after Electoral Registration Officers found the voters eligible for inclusion. The Election Commission has said that its ECINet system did not have a rollback provision after a deletion was made through Form 7.
The Goa Chief Electoral Officer’s office has subsequently said that many of the 97 cases have since been enrolled and that the remaining cases are being processed. The office stated that the cases were separately processed through house-to-house visits by Booth Level Officers for completion of Form 6.
Fernandes also claimed that around 1.3 lakh names had been deleted from Goa’s electoral rolls and described the 97 cases as only “the tip of the iceberg”. Earlier reports have put the net deletion during the Special Intensive Revision at around 1.27 lakh voters, while other reports have cited different figures depending on the stage and methodology of the revision.
Fernandes also demanded that the West Bengal election results be scrapped and fresh elections conducted, alleging that the electoral process had been compromised.
“This is an attack and assault on the democracy of the country,” Fernandes said while reiterating his demand for action against the Chief Election Commissioner.
The allegations come amid an ongoing political controversy over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and the functioning of its digital voter-registration systems.
The Election Commission has disputed aspects of the criticism, saying that Electoral Registration Officers retain responsibility for preparing and revising electoral rolls and that ECINet is a facilitating platform.
