Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Friday distanced himself and BJP from the deletion of voters’ names from Goa’s electoral rolls, saying the exercise was solely an Election Commission of India (ECI) matter and that the poll panel was an independent body.“Everyone was given an opportunity. The election commission has said that as per their protocol, electorates can appeal. It is an election commission issue, and it is not related to the political party or me as a chief minister of the state,” Sawant said.“EC is an independent body, and we have no connection whatsoever,” he added, saying the commission had properly guided voters on the process.Sawant’s remarks came a day after Goa Forward Party (GFP) president and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai and AAP Goa chief Valmiki Naik alleged that large-scale deletions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were compromising Goa’s democratic process ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.Sardesai termed the exercise “vote theft”, alleging that traditional non-BJP voters were being systematically removed and warning that such deletions could influence constituencies where elections are decided by narrow margins.Goa chief electoral officer Sanjay Goel, however, said that of the 97 names deleted for logical discrepancies, around 25 had already been re-included after the voters filed Form 6 for fresh enrolment.“The names of around 25 persons and perhaps more have been re-included in the rolls after they filled Form 6. They were enrolled sometime after the SIR was completed in March and April,” Goel told TOI.“After the publication of rolls, we sent emails to both district electoral officers asking them to see that BLOs go and get forms filed to include those names,” he said.Goel said some booth-level officers (BLOs) had tried to facilitate re-enrolment, but some voters were unwilling to fill Form 6. “The names cannot be suo motu added in the rolls; they have to fill Form 6,” he said.With the appeal period over, filing Form 6 is now the only route to get the names restored, Goel said. “None of the 97 people filed appeals,” he said, adding that notices had been issued to them to submit documents before their names were deleted, but none responded.“Several of them have migrated. We will make another attempt. If they’re available and willing to fill Form 6, their names will be re-included,” Goel said.
