Opposition's fresh attack on EC over report of valid Goa voters left off final roll

The Opposition has intensified its attack on the Election Commission after a report flagged omissions in Goa's final electoral roll. The row centres on 97 voters cleared by Electoral Registration Officers but excluded after the Special Intensive Revision.The Opposition on Thursday launched a fresh round of attacks on the Election Commission after a report claimed 97 voters in Goa, who were found eligible by ground-level officers, were nevertheless left out of the final electoral roll following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).Directly attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the report, the Congress alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had "hijacked the entire system” at the behest of the Prime Minister and was “carrying out anti-national acts." Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said it proves that the "election process has been thoroughly compromised and vitiated" and reiterated the party’s demand for Kumar’s resignation.The Indian Express report alleged that 97 Goa voters who were found eligible for inclusion in the 2026 final electoral roll by local Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) were left out because the Election Commission’s centralised ECINet system, controlled by its IT division in Delhi, did not allow the EROs to reverse earlier deletion decisions.Despite the Goa Chief Electoral Officer, Sanjay Goel, sending eight emails in seven days seeking a rollback facility, and the Commission’s Deputy Election Commissioner directing the IT division to enable the correction, the facility was allegedly not provided before the final roll was published. However, CEO Goel refused to comment on India Today TV's questions about the deleted voters, saying he had no information about the matter. "I have no information about the matter. I will check my report and get back," he said.Launching a direct attack at the Prime Minister over the matter, Congess alleged that "Narendra Modi's darling Gyanesh Kumar is strangling democracy". "The very Gyanesh Kumar who makes grand proclamations about the right to vote is the one snatching away voters' rights. At Narendra Modi's behest, Gyanesh Kumar has hijacked the entire system and is carrying out anti-national acts like 'vote theft,'" the party wrote on X.Jairam Ramesh pointed out that under the Representation of the People Act, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have statutory authority over electoral rolls. He alleged that in Goa, "in an illegal and centralising move, EROs' access to the ECINet software was restricted."The Opposition has been questioning the centralised control of the electoral-roll software, alleging that it overrides decisions taken by statutory officials at the ground level and can result in eligible voters being excluded despite being cleared through the process mandated by the Supreme Court."Each new piece of evidence further confirms what the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has been saying for almost two years, ever since the Haryana and Maharashtra assembly election results were out. The election process has been thoroughly compromised and vitiated. This is Gyanesh Kumar implementing the Method of Disenfranchising Indians (MODI)," Ramesh added.Calling the report an "extremely serious" one, senior Congress leader Shahi Tharoor alleged "it involves depriving Indian citizens of their constitutional rights"."Political chicanery is bad enough, but inhumane conduct is unconscionable. The Election Commission owes an apology to the affected citizens and indeed to the nation. Resignation is a minimal demand; rescinding this disastrous software and undoing the harm it has caused is now indispensable," Tharoor wrote on X.- EndsPublished On: Sep 24, 2026 12:33 IST