NT NETWORK
PANAJI
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to delete the names from the Goa electoral rolls, of all the individuals who have opted for foreign nationality by obtaining passport of the respective country, including Portuguese passport holders.
Assistant Chief Electoral Officer of Goa Devidas Gaonkar Wednesday said that there is no official figure to ascertain the number of such people whose names will be deleted from the electoral rolls.
He said, “The Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) will communicate the list to the district election officer, who is also the district collector, and then subsequently the names will be sent to the respective deputy collectors and mamlatdars for action.” Gaonkar said that after the completion of the process, the exact figure of such people, who cease to be voters, will be known.
The process of deleting the names of those who have obtained foreign nationality or passports of other countries will commence from September 15 when the draft summary revision of the electoral rolls will be put in the public domain for reviewing of the voters’ details by the general public.
Gaonkar said that the draft summary revision electoral rolls consist of 10,85,270 voters and the people of the state will be given time of one month till October 14 for inclusion or omission of their names. “During this period, anyone who will attain the age of 18 years as on January 1, 2017, can be registered in the electoral list. People can get their names and addresses rectified and if their names have been deleted, get them re-registered,” he said.
The final electoral rolls will be published on January 5, 2017, after the completion of the process of inclusion and deletion of names from the draft summary revision electoral rolls.
A speculated 27,000 Goans, who have obtained foreign nationality, including Portuguese citizenship and have ceased to be Indian nationals, are expected to lose their voting right once their names are struck off the list.