Political parties file over 2,000 claims in SIR of electoral rolls

Margao: Political parties in the state have submitted thousands of claims and objections towards the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.According to the latest daily bulletin issued by the chief electoral officer (CEO) on Saturday, political parties altogether filed 2,821 claims through their booth level agents (BLAs) during the claims and objections period that began on Dec 16.BJP has taken the lead among parties with 1,574 claims, while Congress follows with 1,035 claims.Revolutionary Goans submitted 170 claims, and the Goa Forward Party filed 42 claims. The draft electoral roll, published earlier, contains 1.08 lakh electors.The revision exercise aims to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the voter list ahead of the 2027 state assembly elections.Individual citizens have also actively participated in the revision process.As many as 1,050 individual applications for inclusion (Form 6/6A) were received directly from electors, while 63 applications for exclusion (Form 7) were submitted during the current phase.Besides, 4,463 Form 6 applications for addition and 948 Form 7 applications for deletion were received before the publication of the draft electoral roll.These applications are being processed by the electoral registration officers.The claims and objections period will continue till Jan 15. The exercise aims to provide ample opportunity for eligible voters to ensure their names appear on the final electoral roll.BLAs appointed by political parties are authorised to collect claims and objections from the public, though they must file them along with prescribed declarations.The CEO’s office has clarified that generic complaints without prescribed forms or declarations will not be counted as valid claims or objections.Names will be added to the final electoral roll only after obtaining all necessary declarations from the said applicants.