Panaji: The Election Commission Tuesday justified the non-inclusion of the Goan family of six in the electoral rolls and said their names couldn’t be considered as “deleted” from the voters’ list as the “core feature of SIR (special intensive revision)” is that it is prepared “de novo or afresh from ground up”.“The fact that the name was on the earlier roll doesn’t by itself secure a place in the draft SIR roll. Non-appearance of a name in draft SIR in law, and in fact, does not mean deletion at all since the electoral roll is being prepared afresh. There is no electoral roll from which the name can be deleted,” senior advocate Ashutosh Kumbhakoni representing EC told the two-judge bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar.He said it only meant “non-inclusion” in a roll that is a draft, which is to be finalised after following due process of suggestions and objections. “Thus, such non-inclusion in the draft SIR necessitates following due process by the elector for inclusion,” he said.“SIR is equal to the first preparation of a roll.”He told the court that there is a difference between special summary revision (SSR) and special intensive revision (SIR). “This distinction between SSR and SIR is really confusing and therefore, all these issues have arisen, and all these issues have cropped in,” he said.“…therefore, an impression is created that somebody’s name which doesn’t appear in draft SIR is someone whose name is dropped, deleted, removed,” Kumbhakoni argued.“Under SSR, the existing roll continues and is only updated based on information received in the prescribed manner, whereas under SIR, the roll is rebuilt from those enumerated. The SSR is routine and annual, whereas SIR is intensive and exceptional,” he said, adding that in SIR, people have to respond to enumeration forms.EC blamed Paresh Salgaonkar and his family of five for not registering their names despite shifting their residence within the same constituency around eight years ago.He said Form 8, which the Salgaonkars filled, is for shifting an existing entry from one place to another or for correction. “If your entry is not there in the electoral roll, which is prepared afresh as result of SIR, how can that Form 8 help him? Therefore, in the second appeal (filed by Salgaonkars) it is observed and held that there is no occasion for shifting of the entry of Form 8, since there is no entry at all in the original electoral roll — draft roll of SIR,” Kumbhakoni said.The counsel representing the Salgaonkars told the court that it was the booth level officer (BLO) who uploaded Form 8 for change of address and not the petitioners.He said the family received a message on Jan 21, two days after the last date to file objections to the draft roll where their names were missing, that their Form 8 was rejected.The counsel told the court that there is not a single guideline of EC stating that Form 8 shall stand suspended during SIR.“I’m neither in a boat nor in a canoe. I’m left in the sea,” he said.The HC has reserved its order in the case.
