Goa CEO Says Many of 97 Omitted Voters Now Enrolled
Eligible electors were left out of February’s final roll despite being cleared for inclusion after review during SIR
- Many of the 97 omitted Goa voters have since been enrolled.
- The 97 were found eligible after review of 649 cases.
- Goa’s final SIR roll recorded a net deletion of 1.27 lakh voters.
- Remaining cases are being processed through the electoral machinery.
GG News Bureau
Panaji, 25th Sept: The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Goa has said that many of the 97 electors found eligible for inclusion but left out of the final electoral roll published in February 2026 have since been enrolled, while the remaining cases are being processed.
The clarification came after reports highlighted the omission of the 97 voters following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Goa. The CEO’s office said the cases were separately processed through house-to-house visits by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for completion of Form 6.
97 voters found eligible after review
During the SIR exercise, some electors were flagged for what were described as “logical discrepancies”. They were subsequently given an opportunity to submit documents and objections.
Of the 649 electors who came forward, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs examined their cases and found 97 eligible for inclusion in the electoral roll.
The final electoral roll was published on February 21, 2026, but the 97 names were not included. The Goa CEO’s office had reportedly sent multiple requests to the Election Commission seeking a facility to reverse the earlier deletions before the final roll was published.
The CEO’s office has now said that many of the 97 voters have been enrolled, with the remaining cases under process, and reiterated that “no eligible elector will be left behind.”
Goa roll saw 1.27 lakh net deletions
The controversy comes against the backdrop of the wider SIR exercise. The final Goa electoral roll published in February recorded a net deletion of around 1.27 lakh voters, equivalent to about 10.76 per cent of the electorate before the revision.
The Election Commission’s Goa CEO website also lists the SIR 2026 final electoral roll as having been published on February 21.
Opposition raises concerns
The omission of the 97 eligible voters has prompted questions from Opposition parties about the functioning and centralisation of the electoral-roll system.
Goa Congress working president Sunil Kawthankar criticised the process and alleged that deletion of valid voters amounted to electoral malpractice. These are political allegations and have not been independently established. The BJP has rejected Opposition criticism as a political campaign.
The wider SIR exercise has also generated debate nationally. Data reported from draft electoral rolls showed that more than 13 crore names had been excluded across 30 states and Union Territories, with the figures subject to the claims-and-objections process. Delhi recorded a 32.8 per cent reduction in its draft roll, followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu at 29.6 per cent, Telangana at 21.7 per cent and Maharashtra at 21.1 per cent.
