Panaji, Oct 22 The Congress on Thursday staged a demonstration outside the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Goa, demanding cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.
The protest was led by state Congress chief Girish Chodankar and others. Speaking to the media, 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.
The entire SIR process was illegal and had been initiated in violation of various statutory provisions, he alleged.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had violated several laws, Chodankar claimed while questioning the ECI’s authority to undertake the revision process in the manner it had been conducted.
The ECI did not have the power to amend the existing laws or take decisions concerning the SIR process beyond its statutory mandate, he said.
The decision to undertake the SIR had been taken solely by CEC Gyanesh Kumar and not by the Election Commission as a collective body, the Congress leader claimed.
He also described the electoral rolls prepared under the SIR as illegal.
The Congress leader also alleged that names of so-called “ghost voters” were added to the electoral rolls in Goa.
The state’s Chief Electoral Officer could not take any corrective action as CEC Kumar controlled the entire process, Chodankar claimed.
(PTI News)
