Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi warned of protests over the alleged misuse of Form-7 during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Telangana.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) allows voters to use Form-7 to object to the inclusion of a name in an electoral roll or seek deletion of an existing entry. The form covers several grounds, including death, permanent shifting, duplicate enrolment, under-age registration, and a person allegedly not being an Indian citizen.
Asaduddin Owaisi on Form-7 ‘misuse’ during SIR in Hyderabad
Addressing the 57th ‘Jalsa-e-Milad-un-Nabi’ at Milad Maidan on Saturday, October 3, he appealed to the Election Commission to take action against those who are filing Form-7 with false claims.
He said that if the filing of Form-7 with false claims does not stop, Hyderabad will witness protests bigger than what Delhi’s Jantar Mantar saw.
Pre-printed Form-7
The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) submitted a written complaint to Chief Electoral Officer, C Sudharshan Reddy, over submission of pre-printed Form-7 applications.
The party alleged that they were submitted against Congress BLA Shafiuddin and 30 members of his family by Balachander (Balu), stated to be a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Booth Level Agent (BLA) of booth number 210 of Musheerabad Assembly Constituency.
“What makes this matter particularly serious is the allegation that the Form-7 applications were pre-printed and prepared in advance”.
Apart from the claims by Congress and Asaduddin Owaisi, media reports stated that a large number of Form-7 applications with alleged false claims were uncovered during SIR in Bahadurpura Assembly Constituency in Hyderabad.
Form-7 does not automatically delete voter name
A Form-7 objection filed against a voter does not automatically lead to deletion of the person’s name from the electoral roll. Once received, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) examines it and makes an appropriate decision after a thorough verification.
But before taking the specified deletion action, the ERO is required to give the person concerned a reasonable opportunity of being heard.
Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1950, deals with correction of entries and deletion from electoral rolls.
The ECI’s Form-7 guidelines place the onus of proof to substantiate the reason given for the objection or removal of a name on the applicant.
If, after examination and verification, the ERO concludes that the legal requirements for deletion have been met, the person’s electoral-roll entry may be deleted.
The affected person is not necessarily without a remedy. Section 24 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, provides an appeal mechanism against relevant decisions under Sections 22 and 23.
However, as Form-7 applications with false claims trigger a process, they may put an unnecessary burden on the election officials, who are already struggling with time due to the ongoing SIR, and the electors against whom the applications were made.
