TNN, Sep 23, 2010
PANAJI: The Pilerne Citizen's Forum (PCF) has demanded that no elections should be held in Goa until voters are enrolled into the state electoral rolls according to guidelines set by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The PCF has said that it will move the high court of Bombay at Goa with a petition on this shortly.
It maybe pointed out here that the ECI on September 20 declared October 18 as the date of the byelection for Valpoi constituency.
The Valpoi bypoll is a result of its MLA Vishwajit Rane, an independent legislator and state health minister, tendering his resignation and joining the Congress party in June. Vishwajit though has retained the health portfolio.
According to the provisions of the Constitution of India, a minister who does not become a member of the legislature for six consecutive months ceases to be a minister on expiry of the six-month grace period.
While Pilerne in Bardez is geographically distant from Valpoi - approximately 60 kilometres, political repercussions for the constituency in Sattari taluka is a near possibility should the PCF approach the high court.
The PCF, however, claimed it is not targeting any individual. "We are not targetting any individual. We are going to approach the high court so that no elections should be held in Goa until ECI guidelines are followed for enrolling voters," PCF's legal advisor Yatish Naik told a press conference on Thursday morning.
Naik said that the decision to seek legal recourse is a result of no answer being received from the ECI who had assured to conduct an inquiry into the PCF's allegations.
"The chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi told us during his visit here on August 31 that he would look into our allegations. Accordingly, he deputed ECI secretary Bernard John to conduct an inquiry. John told us that he would require ten days to conduct an inquiry. When we called him yesterday, he said the inquiry was still on," Naik said.
"Is this going to be a perpetual inquiry? When is it going to be concluded? How has the ECI announced elections before concluding the inquiry?" he added.
When asked if ten days were sufficient for the ECI to conduct a thorough inquiry into the authenticity of the state's electoral roll, the PCF legal advisor replied: "The ECI should not have told us it needs ten days, in that case. It should have been honest and asked for time."
The PCF also said that it will make all authorities concerned as respondents to its petition.
It maybe recalled here that the PCF availed the Right to Information (RTI) Act and submitted a common questionaire to the eleven offices of the mamlatdars in Goa, inquiring on the procedures followed for enrolling a person into the electoral roll. The PCF received different replies from each mamlatdar, and it threatened to move the high court if the ECI did not step in to ensure that the Electoral Registration Officers in Goa followed the standard guidelines set by it.
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