Panaji, Jan 11 Admiral Arun Prakash (retd.) on Sunday expressed his anguish over the inconvenient scheduling of his and his wife’s appearance in election offices on two different dates as part of the SIR of electoral rolls in Goa.
The 82-year-old former Chief of the Naval Staff, in a post on X, also brought to the notice of top Election Commission of India officials the need to relook at the SIR forms’ format, which, despite three visits by the BLO to his home, could not be filled to the satisfaction of the poll panel.
Admiral Arun Prakash said that he and his wife would comply with the EC notices to appear in the election office, but wondered why the BLO, who visited their home thrice, could not ask for the additional information for which the veteran and his wife have now been called to two different Election offices, which are 18 km apart.
The former Navy chief, who held the top post from July 31, 2004, to October 31, 2006 and served as the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee from January 31, 2005, to October 31, 2006, said in his post on X, “I neither need, nor have ever asked for any special privileges since retirement 20 yrs ago. My wife & I had filled the SIR forms as required & 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.”
“May I point out to @ECIVEEP that (a) if the SIR forms are not evoking reqd info they should be revised; (b) the BLO visited us 3 times & could have asked for additional info; (c) we are an 82/78 yr old couple & have been asked to appear on 2 different dates 18 km away!!” said Admiral Arun Prakash.
Though the veteran did not elaborate further but his remarks on social media reflected his pain at the citizen-friendly revision of rolls turning into a cumbersome exercise for him and his wife, who have been asked to personally appear before poll officials at two separate venues.
--IANS
rch/dan
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