Most no. of voters deleted from Vasco constituency during SIR

Panaji: Of the 1,00,042 names of absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD) voters omitted during the special intensive revision (SIR) for Goa, the highest deletions were recorded in the Vasco constituency which was found to have the highest number of absent and permanently shifted electors. It was followed by Cortalim, Fatorda, Santa Cruz, Taleigao, Margao and Panaji.

The draft electoral roll for the state was released on Tuesday. It was shared with political parties and was also published on the website of the chief electoral officer (CEO).




CEO Sanjay Goel attributed the high number of deletions of voters in Vasco and Cortalim to the industrial migrant work force that keeps moving. “Migration is very high in both these constituencies. They (migrant workers) stay for a few months and subsequently, somebody else is hired. Workers then return to their respective native villages and don’t return. Their names were not deleted before as booth level officers could not locate them,” Goel said.

This pattern, he said, is seen in highly urbanised industrial areas throughout the country.

The SIR found 29,729 electors to be untraceable and absent, and 40,469 permanently shifted. Another 25,574 names were deleted as these voters were found to have died, while 1,997 were dropped as they were found to be enrolled elsewhere. At least 2,273 voters were pushed into the ‘others’ category, for not returning the forms during the enumeration exercise.

Sanguem logged the fewest deletions, followed by chief minister Pramod Sawant’s constituency of Sanquelim, and then by Bicholim, Mandrem, Priol, Poriem, and Mayem.

Incidentally, South Goa registered 10,764 more deletions under the ASDD category when compared to North Goa.

“Genuine electors can still be added to the electoral rolls during the claims and objections period between Dec 16 and Jan 15,” Goel said. “During this period, any elector or political party may file claims or objections for either inclusion of eligible electors, or the deletion of ineligible names.”

If anyone seeks to enter their name, they same can be done by submitting Form 6, Goel said and added, “Every claim received will be disposed of. If the claim is correct, the name will appear in the final roll which will be out on Feb 14.”

The CEO said his office was sifting through 8,459 names of foreign passport holders — a majority of them Portuguese — who surrendered their Indian citizenship between 2020 and 2025.

“We are using AI to segregate names constituency-wise. Once this data is shared with electoral registration officers (ERO), suo motu notices will be sent to those who went ahead and filled the enumeration forms despite having surrendered their Indian passports,” he said.

Goel however clarified that they have names of only those who have surrendered their Indian passports. “We don’t have information on those who acquired Portuguese passports but haven’t surrendered their Indian passports,” he said.

The process of issuing notices and conducting hearings for those who filled enumeration forms but were not mapped in the 2002 SIR — which is more than 1.8 lakh electors — will be carried out until Feb 7, seven days before the final roll is published on Feb 14, the CEO said.

Those unable to attend a hearing will be given the liberty to send their documentation with a family member provided an authorisation letter is attached too.

“The EROs concerned will examine the documentation and take a final decision,” Goel said.