SIR uncovers duplicates, deceased, and unmapped voters amid verification of 11.85 lakh against 2002's 9.27 lakh; 2.1 lakh still pending mapping.
Congress, GFP decry BLO coercion and deletion risks for minorities; demand deadline extensions like UP's SC plea for rural safeguards.
Door-to-door ends December 4, draft rolls December 9; BJP backs process for fraud-free rolls ahead of 2027, with claims till January 2026.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Goa has unearthed approximately 90,000 voter anomalies, including duplicates, deceased entries, and unmapped individuals, as revealed by Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel during a review meeting on Thursday, November 28. Launched on November 4 under the Election Commission of India's (ECI) directive for 12 states and UTs, the SIR aims to cross-verify current rolls.
Of the total, around 2.1 lakh voters remain unmapped to the legacy data or relatives, with the anomalies flagged for further scrutiny to prevent disenfranchisement or fraud ahead of the draft publication on December 9. Goel assured stakeholders that BLOs have been instructed against coercive tactics, following complaints from Congress and Goa Forward Party (GFP) leaders who alleged rushed verifications were pressuring voters without documents, potentially leading to panic deletions. State Congress president Amit Patkar highlighted duplicate entries and multiple registrations at single addresses, echoing earlier August probes uncovering over 40,000 fake addresses and 10,000 bulk voters in hotspots like Bamonbhat and Ramnathi.
GFP vice president Durgadas Kamat raised fears of targeted deletions in minority communities, urging extensions beyond the December 4 verification deadline to avoid mass disenfranchisement, similar to Supreme Court pleas in Uttar Pradesh for a three-month buffer. BJP dismissed widespread fraud claims, asserting the SIR would clean up legacy issues without bias, while district-level all-party meets chaired by North and South Goa DMs emphasized transparency in the three-month verification window for post-2002 additions.
As final rolls finalize by February 2026, officials call for document readiness via voters.eci.gov.in to mitigate glitches in this voter base growth of over 28% since 2002.
