High Court has directed the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) to restore the names of St Cruz resident Paresh Salgaonkar and five family members to the electoral rolls within 10 days, after confirming their address. Petitioner’s Counsel Adv Kevin Braganza informed that the Court has issued an order that the petitioner and his families names should be restored in the electoral roll within 10 days. The actual process of inclusion will have to be decided by the Election Commission and ERO, he added. Their names had been deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) despite their applications through Form 8 to shift their address within the same Assembly constituency. They were asked to fill up Form 6 which is for enrolment of new voters, which Salgaonkar declined stating that it would be wrong information as he and his family were not new voters. Instead, he moved the Courts against Election Commissions decision to delete their names without prior notice or without giving them a fair chance to put forth their say.The Court in its order today set aside the decisions of the North Goa District Election Officer and Goa Chief Electoral Officer rejecting their Form 8 applications. The Election Commission of India (ECI) maintained that the petitioners were required to submit enumeration forms along with Form 8 and, in their absence, apply through Form 6 for fresh inclusion. The Court also rejected ECI’s request to defer the matter pending Supreme Court proceedings concerning SIR, observing that this petition did not challenge the revision exercise itself. It also refused ECI’s request for a two-week stay to approach the Supreme Court, noting that the order concerned inclusion of voters in the electoral rolls.
