From Guilherme Almeida in Margao http://www.oheraldteam.com
MARGAO, NOV 19 (HR) It will take some time to answer the question whether Goan NRIs are eligible or not to exercise their franchise, but the sword of domiciles is presently hanging over thousands of voters as the respective Electoral Registration officers are bracing up to delete names from the electoral list on grounds they have shifted their place of residence. Incidentally, the exercise is marked by sharp differences of opinion amongst election officials over the modus operandi used to delete names of voters upon instructions from the Chief Electoral Office. "Such an exercise (deletion of names) is normally carried out during intensive and special electoral revisions and after much awareness and publicity. It cannot be implemented during the photo-identify cards programme”, an official informed Herald under condition of anonymity. But, Salcete Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, Sanjeev G Dessai, says otherwise. So far, his office has issued thousands of notices under Rule 21A of the Registration Electors Rules, 1960 for deletion of names since the voters could not be found at the place of residence during the EPIC programme. "Yes, under Rule 21A of the Electors Rules, 1960, we can delete the names of voters if they are not ordinarily resident of the area", he maintained. When his attention was drawn to the fact that his office is using the data collected during the house-to-house campaign vis-a-vis the EPIC programme for an entirely different purpose, Dessai said answers to all these questions can be sought from the Chief Electoral Officer, Ballah. Incidentally, it is learnt that the Assistant Electoral Registration officer has not received anything in writing to take up the voters deletion exercise, and the exercise is purely based on the discussions held at a meeting held in the Chief Electoral Office. So far, the Salcete Electoral Registration Officer has almost completed the process of issuing notices and hearing the parties. However, the controversial exercise to strike off the names has not yet begun and the likely first victims would be those who haven’t replied to the show cause notices, either due to the short time-frame or due to lack of awareness. Another section who would fall victim to the ongoing exercise -- undertaken to ascertain the success of the EPIC programme than for the deletion of names under Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, are the large number of youth from Salcete presently putting up in the 'clubs' in Mumbai to pursue their career in the merchant navy. Some of these youngsters have been in the metropolis for several months, seeking a job on the ships, but now face the prospects of loosing their voting rights back home. According to available statistics, there are 9960 voters in the eight constituencies of Salcete who are being considered as having shifted their ordinary place of residence. Margao tops the list with 2701 such voters, followed by neighbouring Fatorda with 1965 voters. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################