NT Reporter
Margao
Collector and district election officer of South Goa, Egna Cleetus, on Saturday handed over the final electoral roll to representatives of political parties, stating that the roll prepared under the special intensive revision (SIR) now comprises 5.59 lakh voters.
Prior to the SIR exercise, the electoral roll had 6,32,010 electors. The draft roll, published on December 16 last year, listed 5,76,607 electors, including 2,77,131 males, 2,99,467 females, and nine third-gender voters. The final roll records 2,69,488 male electors, 2,89,785 female electors, and nine third-gender electors, along with 176 service voters (171 male and five female).
Speaking about the process, Cleetus said, “The SIR began with house-to-house enumeration from November 4 to December 4, during which enumeration forms were distributed and collected. The draft roll was published based on this data. Deletions were carried
out for absentee, duplicate, and other ineligible cases. Following the draft, we conducted hearings for logical discrepancies and
unmapped cases where voters submitted supporting documents.”
During the SIR, the rationalisation of polling stations was also undertaken. South Goa initially had 906 polling stations, which now stands at 911. Two new stations each were added in Sanvordem, Cortalim, and Dabolim, and one in Velim, while two polling stations in Mormugao were removed after all voters were shifted.
On filing appeals, Cleetus said, “A voter can file an appeal within 15 days. The first appeal will go to the BDO, and the second stage will be with the Chief Electoral Officer in another
15 days.”
Reacting to the final roll, Congress leader Savio Coutinho said, “We will review the roll closely to see if genuine voters have been deleted or retained. However, we remain concerned about potential deletion of non-BJP voters.”
