Panaji: MP Shantaram Naik appealed to the election commission (EC) not to delete the names of Goans who have registered their births in Portugal, from the electoral rolls. He has recently given a notice of a Private Member Bill
to amend Section 16 of the Representation of People's Act, 1950, and allow the lines "Provided further in the matter of electoral rolls maintained in the state of Goa, no name shall be deleted by the commission or any authority under the commission on grounds of an elector losing his citizenship merely on grounds that an elector's birth stands registered in Portugal on account of any decree or order passed by the appropriate authority in Portugal, permitting people of Goa born before the liberation of the territory to register their births in that country, unless by a specific judgement or order, the commission is directed to do so."
This, he says, will protect the voting rights of the citizens.
He warned that the constitution of the proposed authority by the central government was a long-drawn process and would take months to arrive at any conclusion. "The election commission is not going to wait to delete their names," he said.
The entire problem could have been solved had the central government only accepted his proposal made through a Private Members Bill to amend Section 9 of the Indian Citizenship Act 1955, Shantaram feels.
He suggested that chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar should call a meeting of all the political parties to present a consensus before the authority which proposes to come to Goa to identify the affected persons and suggest that Section 9 of the Citizenship Act be amended through an ordinance to save the voting rights of the Goans who are not interested in becoming Portuguese citizens.
TOI Goa News
to amend Section 16 of the Representation of People's Act, 1950, and allow the lines "Provided further in the matter of electoral rolls maintained in the state of Goa, no name shall be deleted by the commission or any authority under the commission on grounds of an elector losing his citizenship merely on grounds that an elector's birth stands registered in Portugal on account of any decree or order passed by the appropriate authority in Portugal, permitting people of Goa born before the liberation of the territory to register their births in that country, unless by a specific judgement or order, the commission is directed to do so."
This, he says, will protect the voting rights of the citizens.
He warned that the constitution of the proposed authority by the central government was a long-drawn process and would take months to arrive at any conclusion. "The election commission is not going to wait to delete their names," he said.
The entire problem could have been solved had the central government only accepted his proposal made through a Private Members Bill to amend Section 9 of the Indian Citizenship Act 1955, Shantaram feels.
He suggested that chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar should call a meeting of all the political parties to present a consensus before the authority which proposes to come to Goa to identify the affected persons and suggest that Section 9 of the Citizenship Act be amended through an ordinance to save the voting rights of the Goans who are not interested in becoming Portuguese citizens.
TOI Goa News
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