The Election Commission of India on Monday asked the Telangana state government authorities concerned to “take appropriate action” against individuals who submitted Form 7s to falsely delete eligible voters from the electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
He asked the officials concerned to issue necessary instructions that the EROs shall take action against the applicants, who have made a knowingly false statement or declaration in writing in Form-6, 6A, 7 & 8, as per the provisions of Section 31 of the Representation of People Act, 1950 .
“It has come to the notice of this office that there have been instances of filing bulk applications in Form 7 before the electoral registration officers and it is also alleged that such forms are not genuine,” Reddy said in the memo. “Such action shall be preceded by an inquiry under Rule 20 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960,” the memo said.
Earlier in the day, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee’s election commission coordination committee headed by Pulipati Rajesh Kumar submitted a formal complaint to Hyderabad police commissioner V C Sajjannar against alleged misuse of Form 7 through pre-printed bulk applications by some individuals. Referring to one such instance in Musheerabad assembly constituency, Kumar brought to the notice of the police commissioner that a booth-level agent belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party submitted Form-7 applications seeking deletion of Congress BLA and 30 members of his family from the voters’ list. Similar types of pre-filled Form-7 applications were reportedly found in other places like Bahadurpura and Goshamahal, the PCC leader said. Earlier reporting noted: No objection led to deletions so far: CEO Karnataka has received 91,278 Form 7 applications during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, but not a single voter has been removed on the basis of an objection so far, Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukumar said on Monday. Earlier reporting noted: Form 7 is used to object to a proposed inclusion or deletion of a name in the existing electoral roll. The CEO’s office said no Form 7 applications had been received objecting to proposed inclusion of names.
“The said applications were allegedly pre- printed and prepared in advance, raising grave concerns about whether the persons shown as applicants had actually initiated, authorised, signed or consented to such applications,” he said.
