Panaji, Oct 20 (TOI): The chief electoral office in Goa has ordered an inquiry into pictures which surfaced on the social media showing EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) dumped in a gutter in Margao.

A formal complaint was also lodged by Goa Forward Party demanding an inquriy into hundreds of EPICs found in the gutter near the old railway station in Margao.

Joint chief electoral officer Narayan Navti has asked the district collector to submit a report within 48 hours, sources said.
An official said that it could be some old cards dumped there "but we'll inquire into the matter."

Goa Forward party members, including Vinod Palyekar along with Dilip Prabhudesai, Jayesh Salgaoncar, Durgadas Kamat and Dilip Borkar, raised the issue at the office of the chief electoral office at Altinho on Tuesday.

Alleging foul play, Durgadas Kamat said that there must have been around 500 cards and this cannot be ignored by the election authorities.

The delegation also demanded an inquiry and alleging that the ruling party was using coercive methods to get names deleted from the electoral rolls.

In view of the incident, Goa Forward party has demanded that one more revision of the electoral roll be held before the assembly election so that not a single Goenkar is denied their voting right.

Kamat alleged that one party is desparately trying its old trick to delete names from the rolls clandestinely to deny the right to those who are already known to go against the party.