‘Election Commission wants me to give a false declaration… It is wrong’: Why a Goa ‘voter’ is in court

Paresh Salgaoncar, a 41-year-old resident of Santa Cruz constituency in North Goa, is currently facing legal troubles due to the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Salgaoncar, who has been voting in local elections since 2003, is among six family members whose names were deleted from the final electoral roll due to rejected Form 8 applications for a change of address.

Salgaoncar believes that the ECI is asking him to provide a false declaration by forcing him to submit Form 6, which is intended for new voters. He argues that software constraints and ECI guidelines should not override legal principles. Salgaoncar and his family moved from Part No. 29 to Part No. 25 within the North Goa constituency over eight years ago.

When the draft electoral roll was published, Salgaoncar and his family were not listed. After filing complaints with the ECI and the CEO, Salgaoncar filed a petition in the Goa High Court, stating that the deletion of his name violates his right to due process and natural justice.