Team Herald
PANJIM: She never does give up and continues to fight for her rights. An 88-year-woman who was unable to exercise her franchise on February 14 Assembly polls as her name was deleted from the electoral rolls has now written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) demanding an inquiry into the matter.
Sebastiana Diniz (88), a resident of Neugi Nagar, Panjim was in utter shock when she found her name deleted from the electoral rolls. She said that she had voted for the Corporation of City of Panaji elections in March last year and now her constitutional and statutory right of voting has been violated.
In her complaint to the ECI, Diniz has mentioned that the name of her neighbour, aged 97 and who died many years ago, was still found enrolled in the electoral rolls.
Herald had front-paged her story. This evoked a lot of responses and comments, on our digital and social media which shows that it struck a chord with the people
Diniz has also pointed out that while the Booth Level Officer (BLO) and the Presiding Officer were trying to figure out as to who should be taking the final decision in such a situation in allowing her to vote, she was made to sit on a wheelchair for nearly two hours causing a lot of anxiety and trauma not only to her but to her son Constancio and daughter Bernadette, who was accompanying her.
Diniz said, “I am shamed in front of all being told that EPIC is not the document that gives me the permission to vote and that I should have gone to the mamlatdar’s office to check whether my name was listed or not.”
Diniz has demanded to know from the ECI on what basis her name was deleted when she was very much alive and why the provision was not made to allow her to cast her precious and most valuable vote even though she was in possession of the EPIC.
“I would like to state that this action of yours has violated my very fundamental right to vote,” she said, reiterating her demand for a thorough probe into the matter and to take to task those responsible for deleting her name from the electoral roll for no fault of hers.