Opposition attacks ECI after 97 valid Goa voters kept out
What's the story
The opposition has renewed its attack on the Election Commission of India after a fresh report by the Indian Express claimed 97 valid voters in Goa were left out of the final electoral roll following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The report revealed that the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Goa had sent eight emails to the ECI in seven days, asking for restoration of voters deleted by ECINet software. Despite this, these voters remain excluded from the electoral rolls.
Election integrity
Access to eCINET software restricted for EROs: Ramesh
Sharing the report on X, Jairam Ramesh said that the Goa CEO wrote to the ECI to reinstate the names of valid voters removed by the ECINet software.
"These emails were ignored, and the voters' names were removed," he said.
The Indian Express report alleged that the 97 Goa voters were left out because the ECINet system, controlled by its IT division in Delhi, did not allow the EROs to reverse earlier deletion decisions.
Accountability call
'Election process thoroughly compromised'
He asserted that these developments corroborated claims by Rahul Gandhi over the past two years that "the election process has been thoroughly compromised and vitiated."
Ramesh has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and accountability from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
"The electoral process has been completely compromised and tainted. This is the implementation of the Method of Disenfranchising Indians (MODI) by Gyanesh Kumar."
Voter restoration
Goa Forward Party president demands immediate restoration of voters
Goa Forward Party president Vijai Sardesai has demanded immediate restoration of all voters deleted from electoral rolls, except those deceased.
He said narrow election margins in Goa could impact the outcome of upcoming assembly elections.
Sardesai claimed that Goa had 11,85,034 registered voters as of October 27, 2025, while the figure stood at 10,67,566 after the final SIR roll was published. He put the net reduction at 1,17,468 voters, or about 10.75 percent of the earlier electorate.
Voter deletions
Investigation reveals election commissioners' objections during SIR process
The ECI's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has led to over 13 crore names being deleted from draft rolls across 30 states and Union Territories.
The Indian Express investigation revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected at least 14 times over decisions related to the SIR process.
Their objections included issues like voter registration, deletion of names, changes to Form 6, and centralization of electoral-roll databases.