90,000 Goa Voters Marked Absent, Shifted Or Duplicate In Special Revision Drive

As many as 90,000 electors in Goa have been identified as absent, shifted, deceased, or holding duplicate voter cards during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, a senior official said on Sunday.

Goa has a total of 11,85,000 registered voters, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjay Goel told reporters in Panaji at the start of the enumeration on November 4, PTI reported.

The Election Commission’s SIR exercise, which aims to update and verify voter records, has so far seen the completion of 10,55,000 forms, with 96.5 per cent of them digitised and received by the poll authority, Goel said.

"90,000 voters have been categorised as absent, shifted, dead, or duplicate," he added. Nearly 40,000 enumeration forms are still pending submission to the commission, PTI reported.

The CEO said the draft electoral roll will be published on December 9. Once released, it will be uploaded on the CEO’s website and displayed on notice boards in various government offices across the state. Claims and objections against entries can be submitted until February 7, 2026. Names can also be added later once the required documents are provided.

Goel noted that 2,20,000 voters, along with their parents, were not located during the 2002 SIR mapping. These individuals will need to fill out the appropriate forms and submit supporting documents. They will be given a hearing by the Assistant Returning Officer, who will decide on their inclusion in the final roll.

The CEO clarified that the new draft roll will not apply to the Zilla Panchayat elections scheduled for December 20. "Whoever is currently listed in the electoral roll can exercise their franchise," he said.

The SIR is being conducted concurrently in nine states and three Union Territories. Goel warned that any elector found holding voter cards in two states will face prosecution and may be imprisoned for up to one year, PTI reported.

(With inputs from PTI)