Panaji

Goa Youth Congress staged a protest at Azad Maidan in Panaji against the Special Intiative Revision of electoral rolls. They targeted the BJP-led government and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

AICC Goa in-charge Manikrao Thakare spoke strongly. He said BJP has won the last five elections, but that does not give it the right to decide who should vote. In his words, if a voter is removed, democracy is removed. I found his point hard to dismiss.

From the Streets to the Courts

"The BJP should fight elections with votes, not with deletions," Thakare said. He added that Congress will take this fight from the streets to the courts to protect every eligible voter.

Youth Congress president Archit Shantaram Naik called Gyanesh Kumar a puppet of Modi. Working president Sunil Kavthankar said the protest is about who gets to take part in our democracy. Aldona MLA Adv. Carlos Alvares Ferreira questioned the clarity of the SIR exercise. He raised concerns over 13.39 crore electors categorised under ASDD during the draft stage.

South Goa MP Capt. Viriato Fernandes called it a black day for democracy. He backed Rahul Gandhi's nationwide campaign against the SIR process. Congress leaders demand the CEC's resignation and warned they will push harder until every genuine voter is protected.

Ever wondered what happens behind the scenes when you apply for voter registration or address change? Two digital systems, ERONET and ECINet, manage India's electoral rolls. A growing debate around their centralisation has caught the attention of Election Commissioners.

ERONET is the back-end computer system that processes all electoral roll applications. This includes additions, deletions, migrations and corrections. It replaced the earlier state-wise systems with a common digital platform. The key point is simple. ERONET assists officers, it does not replace them. The Electoral Registration Officer, or ERO, of each Assembly constituency holds the legal power to decide whether you are a voter.

How ERONET and ECINet Work Together

ECINet is the larger platform launched by Election Commission on 22 January 2026. It brought over 40 ECI applications under one roof. Voter registration, roll checking, corrections, application tracking and e-EPIC downloads are all part of it. ERONET's electoral-roll functions now sit inside this bigger ECINet system.

So what is the actual dispute? Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have repeatedly raised concerns about increasing centralisation of the electoral-roll database. Their worry is straightforward. If an ERO has the legal authority to make a decision, should software permissions be able to stop that officer from recording or reversing it?

The Goa case made this crystal clear. During the Special Intensive Revision, 97 voters were flagged for logical discrepancies. Their EROs examined them, accepted their documents and found them eligible. But the software gave no rollback option to local officers. The Goa CEO's office wrote to Delhi officials several times, but the provision was not enabled in time. Those 97 names did not appear in the final electoral roll.

Think of it like a bank manager who confirms your account should stay active, but the system has no button to reopen it. Annoying, right?

Why does this matter to you? If you have ever shifted cities, faced a name spelling mismatch in English versus a regional language, or worried about your name being dropped from the roll, this system directly affects you. A computer flag saying "something does not match" is meant to trigger human verification, not a final rejection.

Centralisation does have clear benefits too. It helps spot duplicate registrations across states, makes

South Goa MP Capt Viriato Fernandes on Thursday demanded action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He called the voter-roll issues a "mega chori" of votes.

Fernandes said Congress found evidence linking BJP to the Election Commission. He also raised concerns about the other two Election Commissioners. Both had raised objections over the past 10 months, but no action was taken.

On Goa, the MP pointed out that 97 voter names found eligible for inclusion were missing from the final electoral roll. He said this was just the tip of the iceberg. Around 1.3 lakh names had been deleted from Goa's rolls altogether.

Election Commission Responds

Goa Chief Electoral Officer's office said many of the 97 cases have since been enrolled. The rest are being processed through house-to-house visits by Booth Level Officers to complete Form 6. Earlier reports put net deletion during the Special Intensive Revision at around 1.27 lakh voters.

The Election Commission pushed back on the criticism. It said Electoral Registration Officers are still responsible for preparing electoral rolls. ECINet, it added, is just a platform that helps with this work.

Fernandes also demanded that West Bengal election results be scrapped and fresh polls held. He called it an assault on the country's democracy.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant says the Election Commission is an independent body. Neither the state government nor political parties have any role in how it works. He was responding to concerns about voter deletions in the state.

"Everyone has been given a chance to appeal," Sawant said. He added that the Election Commission has already announced the process. Affected voters should contact the poll panel as per the given steps.

Sawant made it clear that the voter deletion issue is a matter for the Election Commission alone. It has nothing to do with any political party or with him as Chief Minister. He said the Election Commission is handling the process the right way.

Questions on Goy Rakhonn Yatra

On the Goy Rakhonn Yatra, Sawant questioned its purpose. He also raised the issue of people from outside Goa taking part. He asked where the organisers had been for the past 60 years. His government, he said, is working to move Goa forward through development, new ideas, and technology.

Sawant also spoke about government help schemes. Widows with children aged 18 or below get Rs 4,000 per month under DSSS along with Griha Aadhar support. Orphans get money help through government schemes. Persons with disabilities receive a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000, plus free artificial limbs and assistive devices at GMC.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal wants Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign right away. While speaking at the Goy Rakhonn Yatra in the Cumbharjua assembly constituency, Venugopal said reports about internal disagreements inside the Election Commission support claims made by Rahul Gandhi regarding the fairness of the election process.

Election Process Concerns

Venugopal claimed that the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls in Goa caused many voter names to be wrongly removed. He also said that the Election Commission stopped attempts to add these voters back, even when local officials suggested it. The Congress leader argued that the current setup allows for possible interference with voter lists at the central level, which he feels puts the democratic process at risk across the country.

Goa State Commission for Backward Classes asked the High Court for two more months to submit empirical data. This information is very important to set reservations for Backward Classes in future municipal elections.

The High Court earlier set September 16 as the deadline for the Commission to share these details with the State Election Commission. Since that date passed, the Commission is waiting for the court to review its request on September 23.

Election preparations

This delay changes the schedule for municipal election work across the state. This includes people voting in Panaji. Local updates regarding the reservation process for many voters remain a priority.