New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Monday (January 12) said that the special intensive revision (SIR) notice to Admiral Arun Prakash (retd) to prove his identity in person was triggered by a “system-driven procedure” due to missing details in the enumeration form, The Times of India reported.

The notice to the admiral came amid the ongoing Phase II of SIR of electoral rolls in Goa. Electoral registration officer Medora Ermomilla D’Costa told the daily that the BLO for the Cortalim constituency in Goa, who had collected Prakash’s enumeration form found it lacked mandatory particulars from previous electoral rolls. 

The hearing notice, he said, was generated as per “the standard, system-driven procedure” to enable verification of the elector's details and ensure due opportunity for confirmation of eligibility.

“It was observed that the enumeration form did not contain the mandatory particulars relating to the previous SIR, including the name of the elector, EPIC number, name of the relative, name and number of the assembly constituency, part number, and serial number in the electoral roll,” D’Costa reportedly said.

The issue came to light when several people on social media, including retired armed forces personnel, shared their concern about the notice to the former Navy chief, a Vir Chakra awardee for his role in the India-Pakistan War of 1971.

According to the report, he has submitted necessary documents for an early resolution of the matter.

“The matter will be settled, perhaps by Tuesday, making the retired Admiral and his wife eligible for inclusion in the final electoral roll of Cortalim assembly constituency in Goa,” an officer aware of the proceedings told TOI.

'SIR forms should be revised'

Responding to criticism that someone of his stature had to ‘prove his identity’, the admiral had said that while he does not expect to be granted any “special privileges” and that he and his wife will comply with the notices, their experience suggests there is room for improvement in the SIR process.

In a post on X, Admiral Prakash wrote, “My wife & I had filled the SIR forms as reqd & were pleased to see our names figured in the Goa Draft Electoral Roll 2026 on the EC website. We will, however, comply with EC notices.”

Speaking on the logistical difficulty for elderly citizens to appear for hearings away from their residences, he wondered why the BLO, who visited their home three times, did not ask for the additional information for which, now, they have been called to the election office 18 kilometres away, and on two different dates. 

“May I point out to [the EC],” he wrote on X on Sunday (January 11), that “if the SIR forms are not evoking [required] info they should be revised”, that their booth-level officer had visited them three times and “could have asked for additional info”, as well as that “we are an 82/78 yr old couple & have been asked to appear on 2 different dates 18 km away!!”

He further demanded the poll body to “employ full time, fully trained youth as BLOs empowered to interact with citizens & vet docs”, “INFORM THE PUBLIC that there exists an option to upload docs on EC website”, and to “not forget the migrant labourer, away from home & unable to produce docs.”

“The real victims are migrant labourers who do not have access to previous electoral rolls from their states, cannot afford to travel for hearings, and who sometimes lack additional documents to prove their identity. The EC’s job is to empower people to vote, not disenfranchise voters,” he told TOI, to the same effect.

He had earlier noted speaking to the Times that before permanently settling in Goa in 2009, he was first posted in the state in 1968 and had had had five postings there since then. “I wonder what happens if I fail to convince the EC official?” the former navy chief asked.

The newspaper reported that the admiral was asked to appear with his documents on January 17 and his wife Kumkum on the 19th.

Undergoing an SIR along with 11 other states and Union territories as part of the ‘second phase’ of the exercise, Goa’s electoral list shrunk by some 8.5%, with the draft rolls containing 10.84 lakh names as against the 11.85 lakh names before the revision began.

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