Story perspectives

Goa final electoral roll omits 97 voters due software glitch

By Drooid · Sep 25, 2026, 4:11 AM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

The final Goa electoral roll omitted 97 eligible voters because ECINet software lacked a rollback function.
Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel said many of the 97 have been enrolled and the rest are being visited house-to-house.
Between Feb 11-17, Goel emailed Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti eight times without reply before the deadline.
The omitted voters, mainly from Taleigao constituency, risk losing eligibility for the Goa Mediclaim Scheme.

History

Historical Context

In the 2000 presidential election, Florida’s razor-thin 537-vote margin triggered a machine recount, legal battles, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bush v. Gore decision on 12 December 2000, exposing punch-card flaws. Today, Goa’s Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel flagged a software omission of 97 voters, echoing those same concerns and urging India’s Election Commission to tighten audit procedures, as U.S. states later moved from punch cards to optical-scan voting systems.

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Story summary

The final Goa electoral roll omitted 97 eligible voters because ECINet software lacked a rollback function.
Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel said many of the 97 have been enrolled and the rest are being visited house-to-house.
Between Feb 11-17, Goel emailed Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti eight times without reply before the deadline.
The omitted voters, mainly from Taleigao constituency, risk losing eligibility for the Goa Mediclaim Scheme.

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