Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday criticised the Election Commission over a report alleging that eligible voters in Goa were left out of the final electoral roll despite efforts by election officials to restore their names.
Reacting to a post by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on X, Tharoor described the matter as “extremely serious” and alleged that it involved depriving Indian citizens of their constitutional rights as well as withholding access to essential humanitarian benefits.
Tharoor said the reported exclusion had consequences beyond voting rights, referring to people who could be dependent on access to government-linked services. In a clarification to the report, the Election Commission stated that all decisions it has taken were unanimous in nature. The controversy centres on a report by the Indian Express concerning 97 voters in Goa who were reportedly found eligible for inclusion in the final electoral roll by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), but whose names were not restored before the roll was published. On Wednesday, investigative report from The Indian Express newspaper stated that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections to decisions taken in the commission’s name at least 14 times over 10 months.
The report said Goa Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel wrote to the Election Commission eight times in seven days seeking a facility to reverse the deletions. “This is extremely serious and involves depriving Indian citizens of their constitutional rights, as well as withholding essential humanitarian benefits, from dialysis treatments to transplants,” Tharoor said in his post. He further criticised what he described as “political chicanery” and said that “inhumane conduct is unconscionable”. Tharoor also said the Election Commission owed an apology to the affected citizens and the country.
