MARGAO: Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik has expressed concern over thousands of Goans, especially voters belonging to minority communities, losing their voting rights after registering their births in Portugal.
“If the Central Government does not amend the Citizenship Act to restore the voting rights of these Goans and declare that they have not ceased to be Indian nationals even though they have registered their births in Portugal, then it will come as a great inconvenience to the people of Goa, especially minorities. This facility given by the Portuguese government to the Goans born prior to Goa’s Liberation has been used by several people and they are still using it,” said Naik.
He said the names of around 26,000 Goans had already been deleted by the office of Chief Electoral Officer, and that another 66,000 names would have been deleted if it were not for the orders of the Home Ministry to keep the process of deletion pending. “As per an order issued by the Central government under the Citizenship Act, an MLA has been declared as having lost his Indian citizenship, paving the way for the disqualification of another MLA as the latter’s case may stand on the same footing,” said Naik.
He continued, “The issue has taken a complicated turn as these thousands of Indian citizens are likely to be considered as non-citizens and/or there is a danger of them losing their Indian citizenship. In fact, an interesting aspect of this issue is that hardly any of these Indian citizens have seen Portugal.”
“It is therefore necessary that a provision be added to Section 9 of the Citizenship Act to the effect that no citizen of India shall be deemed to have lost his citizenship merely on grounds of his or her availing the facility conferred by the order enacted by the Portuguese government,” said Naik.
He also said that he recently met and explained the seriousness of the issue to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and MoS Home Kiran Rijiju.
“Rijiju told me that the report of the committee that came to Goa to study the matter is ready. In the meantime, the budget session is over, leaving Goans high and dry over the issue,” added Naik.
