TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: As the political parties are gearing up for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls 2014, the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) has introduced a surveillance mechanism to weed out bogus voters, who form a major vote bank during the elections, to ensure free and fair polls in the State.
CEO is in the process of cleansing the electoral rolls and if any instances of double registration are found by the authorities, then criminal proceedings would be initiated against such persons.
Those who have registered their names in more than one constituency must voluntarily apply for deletion of their names in Form 7 to EROs/AREOs concerned or else face criminal action, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Narayan Navti told Herald.
Navti said that the CEO is keeping a major focus on migrants who register themselves in their native place and in Goa. The CEO has identified constituencies such as Taleigao, St Cruz, Margao, Dabolim and Cortalim where migrant population is maximum and has registered as voters.
The officer also said that drive is launched following hundreds of complaints from civil society groups, NGOs and political parties. “We are issuing notices to these people who are asked to submit their details. The same are verified with our counterparts, where they stay. If found double registration, than the name is deleted from Goa’s voters list,” Navti said. Last year nearly 2500 bogus names were deleted from Taleigao constituency itself.
Such large-scale weeding out of bogus voters will set alarm bells ringing among political parties, which leave no stone unturned to woo these migrant communities during elections, observers feel. Root cause of bogus voting is migrants coming from villages to towns and cities in search of employment. These migrants, register their names in two places, to the benefit of political parties.
Those who have registered their names as voters in more than one constituency must voluntarily apply for deletion of their names in or else face criminal action, warned Joint Chief Electoral Officer Narayan Navti
