New Delhi: Former chief of naval staff Admiral Arun Prakash and his wife have been served notices asking them to prove their eligibility to remain on Goa’s voter rolls amid the Election Commission (EC)’s special intensive revision (SIR) in the state, prompting the ex-navy chief to note that their local booth-level officer had visited them thrice prior to this.The notice served to Admiral Prakash said that as Goa’s chief electoral officer could not establish him or his relatives as registered electors, he would have to appear before EC officials with his documents to have his identity verified, the Times of India reported.Responding to criticism that someone of his stature had to ‘prove his identity’, the admiral 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.“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 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.Its draft rolls were released on December 16 following one extension and the ongoing claims and objections stage is to continue till January 15. The final rolls are due on February 14.As per the SIR process, electoral registration officers must issue notices to those whose names “could not be linked with previous SIR electoral rolls” before conducting a hearing to determine their eligibility for inclusion.Earlier this week, Congress MP for South Goa Captain (retired) Viriato Fernandes said he was served a notice under the Goa SIR on the grounds that he had “not filled in the details” pertaining to him or his relatives that could link them to the rolls prepared “during the previous SIR”.“This notice is coming on the backdrop of [the EC] having subjected every contestant during last Lok Sabha polls in 2024 including me with the highest level of scrutiny before clearing name for contesting in the elections,” Fernandes wrote on X.Goa’s chief electoral officer told the Times in response that Fernandes’s booth-level officer “should have scrutinised this and sought the details from him [the MP]”. “It was a lapse on the BLO’s part,” he said.As in the Bihar SIR of June-September 2025, the current SIRs in 12 states and UTs too have been marred by controversy, including due to reports of booth-level officers being under immense stress in light of the short timeline of the exercise – with some allegedly dying by suicide over the pressure – and reports of the EC changing its rules during the process.