SHASHWAT GUPTA RAY
“Let’s not be in a hurry to dis enfranchise the already disadvantaged,” said former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash (retd), who, along with his wife, has been served notices asking them to prove their eligibility to remain on Goa’s voter rolls amid the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special In tensive Revision (SIR) in the State. He urged the ECI to make the process of updating the electoral rolls more robust and people-friendly. He exhorted the poll body to expand the scope of infor mation collected through the enumeration form used to seek details from voters, empower Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to interact with voters for gathering additional in formation, and employ full-time, specially trained youth as BLOs to collect information as part of the SIR. “I have voted from my current residential address in Da bolim during past elections. I also have a valid Aadhaar card and voter ID issued in our names at the same address. Yet, I have been served with EC notices because our names are not on the electoral roll prepared during the last SIR conducted in 2002. At that time, I was posted in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,” Admiral Arun Prakash, recipient of Vir Chakra (VrC), the third highest gallantry award, for his valour displayed dur ing the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, told Herald. “But I have voted a number of times in Goa. I have valid voter ID cards. My name is also there on the draft elector al roll for 2026. Despite this, the EC has issued us notices. However, I am not going to register any complaint about it. I will go to the EC office and provide whatever information they need,” he said. Admiral Arun Prakash is the latest addition to a growing list of well-known personalities from across the country who have been issued such notices by the EC. Reacting to this, he pointed out major flaws in the existing voter veri fication process. “There is no provision for asking questions. A BLO comes to your house to hand over the enumeration form and then returns two days later to collect it. When he came to serve the notice, he couldn’t explain the reason for it. According to him, he was just doing what he had been asked to do. This is not the way it should be done,” he said. He further pointed out that the current enumeration form should include more questions, such as on a person’s occupation and previous place of residence between 2002 and 2004, when the earlier SIR was undertaken. “So, there should be more questions in the form. Sec ondly, BLOs should be empowered to ask questions, and trained personnel should be sent to collect information in stead of part-time government employees working under tremendous stress. This will also help reduce the burden on them, as they are already doing additional work,” the former Navy chief said. The Admiral further informed that after considerable re search, he discovered that there is a provision to upload required documents on the ECI website. “But this information has not been properly promulgat ed. Why? I will be appearing before the officials, but the mechanism should be more robust and streamlined. I am an educated person. I own a vehicle and can travel 20 km. But what about poor, illiterate people, especially migrant labourers who do not carry documents with them? Make things easy for people. Don’t disenfranchise the already disadvantaged and complicate matters further,” he said.
