Goa SIR Row: The Election Commission of India resolved the issue linked to 97 names, which were reportedly left out in the Goa Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) final draft. India TV reported that 88 of the 97 names have been restored in the electoral roll after they submitted Form 6.
According to the poll body, the remaining 9 people are not eligible or are living abroad. The Goa Chief Electoral Officer said the cases involving 97 voters were being processed separately.
Three individuals, who have reportedly acquired Portuguese passports, are not eligible to be included in the electoral roll as Indian citizenship is a must for registration. Media reports suggested that the other six people are currently living abroad. However, the officials were attempting to establish contact with them to determine the appropriate action.
What Is 97 Voters Issue In Goa?
In Goa, 97 people were flagged for "logical discrepancies" during the SIR process. Later, they were found eligible. Recently, The Indian Express reported that the Goa Chief Electoral Officer’s office sent eight emails between February 11 and 17 to senior ECI officials in Delhi, seeking the rollback facility. The Goa poll office wanted to include these names, but its request remained unaddressed. The final electoral roll for Goa SIR was published on February 21, 2026, following the draft roll publication on December 16, 2025.
Politics Over SIR Row In Goa
Meanwhile, the omission of 97 names in the SIR created a political outrage in Goa. The Congress recently held a protest seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Congress leaders, including ICC Goa Desk in charge Manikrao Thakare, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, Member of Parliament Capt Viriato Fernandes, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar and working president Sunil Kawthankar, marched to the office of the state's chief electoral officer Sanjay Goel and submitted a memorandum.
The demands in the memorandum, apart from Kumar's resignation, included rescinding of the entire list of voters who were deleted, except those who have expired, party leaders said.
Fernandes said Gyanesh Kumar was attempting to rig the election process at the behest of the BJP, while Alemao said all the names which were deleted from the voters list should be immediately reinstated, except those who have died. On the issue of 97 names, he said eligible persons were covered through house-to-house surveys and their names added through Form-6.
Bogus Voters Cannot Be Allowed To Become Part Of List: Goa BJP Chief
On the other side, BJP Goa president Damodar Naik said the SIR of electoral rolls should follow a transparent verification process. He also claimed some political forces were trying to bring back "bogus votes" into the voters' list.
(With PTI Inputs)