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This month's Goanet operations sponsored by an Anonymous Donor ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ELECTORAL ROLLS: I am a 76-year old senior citizen living in the same old ancestral village home where I was born. I have served as a Pancha of my Village Panchayat and was a candidate for election to the Goa Legislative Assembly in 1989. I have been a regular voter for thepast 35 years and possess a valid Voter Registration Card (EPIC) alongwith rest of my family. Imagine my shock when I found (on examiningthe revised electoral Rolls) that my name along with the rest of my family as well as those of my cousins (who are our neighbours) had been DELETED! Whilst I immediately filed an Application in Form 6 tosafeguard our interests (under protest),I wrote a strong complaint tothe Chief Electoral Officer on 27th. February demanding an explanationand the following information under the R.T.I. Act viz. (1)Name andaddress of the enumerator responsible,(2)Date and time of his/herpurported visit and (3) Reason for dleting our names from the Rolls. I received a reply from the Asst.Electoral RegistrationOfficer(Margao) dated 16th.March (1)Giving the name and address of theenumerator concerned, (2)Stating that he could not provide the exactdate and time of her visit and (3)Stating that (quote)"The Enumeratormust have found your house locked and as such that particular house wasleft out." I replied on 26th. March that (2) he could have obtainedthe information concerning the date and time of the visit by conductingan enquiry and (3) It is inconceivable that all our three houses wouldhave been locked at the same time and whether the guidelines of theElection Commission for enumerators stipulted that the names of resident registered voters possessing valid Voter Registration Cardswere to be deleted on the mere grounds that they were not present athome at the time of the enumerator's visit. I have yet to receive any response to this reply. The wholesale deletion of names of resident registered voters and inclusion of bogus non-resident votersbrings into serious question the validity of the entire electionprocess. Depriving a citizen of his basic fundamental and constitutional right to vote is a very serious matter and calls forthe urgent attention of the authorities concerned. Benaulim,Goa: 28th.April 2007. ---AntonioCorreia-Afonso. ********************************************************** Tony Correia-Afonso 542 Pulvaddo,Benaulim, Goa 403716,India. Phone:91-832-2772063 ------------------------------------------------------- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.goacom.org/casa-de-goa/noticias.html -------------------------------------------------------