Panaji: Amid the ongoing row over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of electoral rolls, around 35,000 voters have reportedly been added back
to the electoral rolls. Notably, during the SIR, the names of over 1.25 lakh voters were deleted from the list. According to local reports, hundreds more people will be added back after the Election Commission of India (ECI) removed the SIR declaration added to the statutory voter enrolment form, Form 6. “Total 35,000 voters have been enrolled in the electoral roll on filing of Form 6 so far,” Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel told The Goan. Earlier this week, the additional SIR declaration requirement in online Form 6 applications was removed in the states and Union Territories where the SIR exercise had been completed.
Details Of Voters Deleted From The Goa SIR List:
Goa’s electoral roll reportedly fell from around 11.85 lakh voters before SIR to 10.57 lakh after the exercise, a net reduction of nearly 1.28 lakh voters. Of these, 1,00,042 voters were identified under the ASDD (Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate) category. Meanwhile, over 25,000 people were declared dead and 40,469 were identified as permanently shifted to other states. Thirty-five thousand voters were added back through Form 6.
- Electoral roll before SIR: Around 11.85 lakh voters
- Eligible voters after SIR: Around 10.57 lakh
- Net reduction in electoral roll: Around 1.28 lakh voters
- Voters identified under ASDD: 1,00,042
- Declared dead: 25,574
- Permanently shifted to other states: 40,469
- Voters enrolled back through Form 6 so far: 35,000
The Goa CEO told the news outlet that over 12,000 new voters were added during the exercise.
Apart from the ASDD category, the SIR led to a net deletion of 27,426 voters. Of the 9.02 lakh mapped electors, 58,923 were flagged for logical discrepancies, including mismatches in names and age differences. After notices, hearings and document verification, 35,780 electors in the unmapped and Logical Discrepancies categories were declared ineligible.
Bombay High Court Questions Voter Deletions In Goa:
The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court questioned the ECI over the SIR exercise in Goa leading to the deletion of names without giving voters a hearing. A division bench of Justice Amit S Jamsandekar and Justice Valmiki Menezes made these remarks while hearing a petition filed by six members of a family whose names were deleted in the SIR.
The High Court said the draft roll cannot be the basis for deleting voters' names.
“Otherwise, Form 6, 7 or 8 have no meaning. Form 6, 7 and 8 are specifically for either a person who is a new voter, a person who has lost the right to vote, or a person who is shifting,” the court said. The bench also questioned the ECI over the role of its software in the process.
Election Commission Reverts To Original Format Of Form 6:
The poll body on Wednesday removed the SIR declaration added to the statutory voter enrolment form, Form 6, from the ECINET portal in states where the SIR has been completed.
The move came after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected to the addition of the SIR declaration to Form 6 and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar ignored their suggestions.
The entire matter soon snowballed into a massive political controversy, with demands for the removal of the CEC. Meanwhile, reacting to it, the EC asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberation in any institution and that all its orders “are an outcome of the unanimous de
