Hyderabad: Amid furore over the alleged deletion of voter names in Telangana through Form 7, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Monday, October 5, issued a crucial direction to all the District Election Officers (DEOs) in the state.
In a memo, CEO C. Sudharshan Reddy said his office had learnt that “there have been instances of filing of bulk applications in Form 7 before the EROs [Electoral Registration Officers], and it is also alleged that such forms are not genuine.”
Keeping that in mind, the CEO asked all the DEOs to issue instructions that “the EROs shall take action against the applicants who have made knowingly false statements or declarations in writing in Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8.” This action, he said, would follow an inquiry.
Form 6 is for registration of a new voter, 6a is for overseas citizens, 7, as mentioned above, is for objecting to a name’s inclusion or to request the deletion of an existing name from the electoral roll, and 8 is used by already-registered voters to modify, correct, update, or replace their existing voter records.
‘No bulk filing’
Earlier, election officials in the state said Form 7 applications allegedly submitted in bulk in the Goshamahal and Musheerabad assembly constituencies were rejected.
PTI quoted the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Commissioner and DEO RV Karnan as saying that Form 7 applications were not received in bulk but in much smaller numbers.
In Goshamahal, the applicant did not sign the submitted forms, making them ineligible, while in Musheerabad, one Balachander submitted Form 7 against 30 electors, but Karnan said they were found residing on the premises.
Congress, AIMIM allege BJP hand
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had warned of an agitation while alleging that BJP activists were attempting to remove the names of Muslim voters from electoral rolls by submitting Form 7 during SIR.
The Telangana Congress has also complained to the CEO that the man who allegedly submitted Form 7 applications in Musheerabad belonged to the BJP.
However, the BJP has rubbished these allegations.
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