Goa Voter Row Intensifies Congress Attack on EC, Jairam Ramesh Alleges Centralised ECINet Blocked Restoration of 97 Eligible Voters
Goa officials said 97 electors were found eligible, but the final roll still excluded them because the ECI software could not reverse earlier entries.
- In Goa, 97 eligible voters remained excluded from the final electoral roll published on February 21, 2026, after the centralized ECINet software blocked local officials from reversing earlier discrepancy flags.
- Although Electoral Registration Officers determined these citizens were eligible, the centralized ECINet system lacked a rollback function, preventing officials from correcting records despite urgent requests to the Election Commission of India.
- Goa Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel repeatedly requested that the ECI permit action to comply with a Supreme Court order, but Tata Consultancy Services failed to provide the necessary rollback functionality.
- Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi warned that centralized control of ECINet was stripping statutory authorities of their power, contradicting established legal procedures.
- The case exemplifies concerns about the bureaucratization of voting rights in a democracy of over 900 million voters, with Rahul Gandhi characterizing the exclusion as an "Act of treason.
17 Articles
17 Articles
'No eligible elector will be left behind': Goa CEO clarifies on 97 missing voters
The Chief Electoral Officer of Goa has provided clarity regarding the exclusion of 97 voters from the electoral rolls. These individuals were initially identified due to discrepancies reported during the Special Intensive Revision process. However, follow-up house visits successfully registered many eligible voters. This incident has raised concerns over the reliability of the Election Commission's ECINet software, prompting criticism from oppos…
‘EC owes apology to nation’: Shashi Tharoor over report of 97 eligible Goa voters left out of electoral roll
Tharoor said the reported exclusion had consequences beyond voting rights, referring to people who could be dependent on access to government-linked services.
Goa Voter Row Intensifies Congress Attack on EC, Jairam Ramesh Alleges Centralised ECINet Blocked Restoration of 97 Eligible Voters
As per the report cited by Jairam Ramesh, the 97 voters had initially been flagged during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) for what the Election Commission describes as “logical discrepancies”.
In Goa, 97 voters were not included in the final voter list during the SIR. According to the report, the ERO had deemed them eligible after verifying their documents, but ECINet did not have the option to reverse the earlier decision.
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