Panaji: The Congress party in Goa on Thursday staged a demonstration outside the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) near Panaji, demanding the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.
The protest was led by Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar and other party leaders. Addressing the media during the demonstration, Chodankar warned that the party would approach the High Court if the Election Commission of India (ECI) failed to scrap the SIR process within 10 days.
He said the Congress would challenge the entire exercise before the High Court, alleging that the process was illegal and had been initiated in violation of various statutory provisions.
Chodankar alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had violated several laws and questioned the Election Commission’s authority to undertake the revision process in the manner in which it had been conducted. He claimed that the ECI did not have the power to amend existing Acts or take decisions concerning the SIR process beyond its statutory mandate.
He further alleged that the decision to undertake the SIR was taken solely by the Chief Election Commissioner and not by the Election Commission as a collective body.
Describing the electoral rolls prepared under the revision exercise as illegal, Chodankar said the entire process was liable to be challenged and declared null and void.
The Congress leader also alleged that the names of so-called “ghost voters” had been added to Goa’s electoral rolls, raising concerns over the integrity of the revision exercise.
He claimed that even the state’s Chief Electoral Officer was not in a position to take corrective action, as the entire process was being handled by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The Congress has demanded that the Election Commission scrap the SIR process, warning that it would pursue legal remedies if its demand was not met within the stipulated 10-day period.
