Election officials in Telangana have rejected contested Form 7 applications submitted in Hyderabad’s Goshamahal and Musheerabad Assembly constituencies, saying some forms were incomplete while others did not support the objections raised against existing electors.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner and District Election Officer R V Karnan said the applications were not received in bulk, as alleged by political parties, but in much smaller numbers. In Goshamahal, the forms submitted against electors were not signed by the applicants and were therefore ineligible for consideration.
In Musheerabad, one person, identified as Balachander, submitted Form 7 applications against 30 electors. Karnan said officials found that the electors concerned were residing at the premises mentioned in the applications. Form 7 is used by an individual to object to the proposed inclusion or seek deletion of a name from an existing electoral roll.
The dispute has emerged during Telangana’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, a process that involves notices, claims and objections before the rolls are finalised. The revision follows publication of the draft electoral roll on August 17. The process for issuing notices and disposing of claims and objections is scheduled to continue until November 5.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that BJP activists were attempting to remove the names of Muslim voters by submitting Form 7 applications during the revision. He warned of a protest. Telangana Congress has complained to Chief Electoral Officer C Sudharshan Reddy, alleging that Balachander belongs to the BJP and that the applications were an attempt to unlawfully seek deletion of genuine electors. The party sought legal action.
The BJP rejected the allegations. State BJP president N Ramchander Rao said no BJP booth-level agents had submitted such Form 7 applications. He said the Special Intensive Revision was being conducted by the state government machinery and that the Election Commission would decide on deletion only after field-level inquiries into objections.
The Chief Electoral Officer said on October 1 that around 29,000 Form 7 applications had been received during the revision, compared with 4.43 lakh Form 6 applications. Form 6 is used to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll. Sudharshan Reddy said a Form 7 application had to be submitted by an individual and that any bulk submission from a political party would have to be properly investigated and verified.
He also said 63 lakh of the 92 lakh voters who had received notices during the revision had been found eligible for inclusion in the electoral rolls. The process concerning the remaining voters was still underway. The rejection of the contested applications in Goshamahal and Musheerabad leaves the claims and objections process dependent on further scrutiny by election officials before the November 5 deadline.
