Goa opposition parties accuse election body and ruling party of voter deletion

Goa opposition parties on Thursday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the ruling BJP government of trying to influence and sabotage upcoming state assembly polls. The allegations follow a report that state election officials repeatedly asked senior election officials for a software rollback option to reverse voter deletions as directed by the Supreme Court, but requests went unanswered before the final voter list was published, leaving 97 eligible voters off the roll. Opposition leaders demanded that the 97 eligible voters be added back immediately. Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai stated that 10.76 percent of voters, amounting to 1.27 lakh people, have been deleted post SIR, and claimed that the 2027 assembly elections may be about vote theft. He added that decentralised electoral powers are being dismantled by decisions made through software in Delhi. Sunil Kawthankar of the Congress party claimed the BJP is using voter deletion to win elections because returning to power will be difficult, alleging the Election Commission has become an arm of the ruling party. Aam Aadmi Party Goa President Valmiki Naik also criticized the CEC, stating that centralising the process in Delhi took away local officials' power to re-add voters and warned that this situation might be just the tip of the iceberg.