Telangana election officials have rejected disputed Form 7 applications submitted in Hyderabad’s Goshamahal and Musheerabad assembly constituencies after finding that some forms were unsigned and that electors targeted in another set of objections were still living at the addresses mentioned.
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. Form 7 is used to object to the proposed inclusion or deletion of a name from an electoral roll.
In Goshamahal, officials found that the submitted forms had not been signed by the applicants, making them ineligible for consideration. In Musheerabad, one applicant, Balachander, submitted Form 7 objections against 30 electors. Karnan said officials verified the addresses and found that the voters continued to reside at the premises.
The dispute has emerged during Telangana’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that BJP activists were attempting to remove Muslim voters from the rolls by submitting Form 7 applications. He warned on Sunday that his party would launch a stronger protest than its earlier demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
The Telangana Congress has complained to Chief Electoral Officer C Sudharshan Reddy, alleging that Balachander belongs to the BJP and that the applications amounted to an attempt to unlawfully seek the deletion of genuine electors. The party has sought legal action. Congress sources, however, said they were not aware of an alleged video showing a Booth Level Officer rejecting Form 7 applications in Goshamahal.
The BJP rejected the allegations. State president N Ramchander Rao said no BJP Booth Level Agent had submitted the applications. He said the Special Intensive Revision was being carried out by the state government machinery and that the Election Commission deletes names only after field-level inquiries into objections.
The Chief Electoral Officer said on October 1 that approximately 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 Form 7 had to be submitted by an individual and that applications received in bulk from a political party would have to be properly examined and verified.
The scale of the revision is substantial. Of the 92 lakh voters who were issued notices during the process, 63 lakh had been found eligible for inclusion in the electoral rolls as of the latest update provided by the Chief Electoral Officer. Verification of the remaining voters was still under way.
The draft electoral roll was published on August 17. The process of issuing notices and disposing of claims and objections is scheduled to continue until November 5, leaving election officials to examine disputed applications and verify voter eligibility before the exercise is completed.
