Telangana SIR: 12204 names deleted so far through Form 7 applications

As the period of filing claims and objection under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ended in Telangana, a total of 12,204 voters’ names have been deleted from the rolls based on Form 7 applications, according to data shared by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Telangana C Sudharshan Reddy. 

As of October 7, around 10.24 lakh claims and objections had been filed across the state through Forms 6, 6A, 7, and 8. While Forms 6 and 6A are meant to include new voters to the rolls, Form 7 is for requesting deletion of a name from the rolls, and Form 8 is for making corrections. 

The highest number of applications received were for corrections (5,05,159), followed by inclusions (4,94,687) and deletions (24,323), according to The Hindu. Of these 24,323 deletion requests, 12,204 were processed and the electors’ names deleted from the rolls. 

The use of Form 7 has become contentious after several instances of alleged misuse have surfaced across the country, including Telangana, where applicants believed to be BJP supporters allegedly filed false deletion requests targeting Muslim voters. 

Form 7 is used to object to the inclusion of a name in the electoral roll or to seek its deletion for reasons such as the person having died, absent or permanently shifted from their residence, being already enrolled in the electoral rolls elsewhere, being under 18 years of age, or not being an Indian citizen. 

Earlier when the draft electoral rolls were published, over 73 lakh voters in Telangana were marked absent, dead, shifted, or duplicate, and removed from the draft rolls. This ASDDO category comprised 21.7% of the state’s 3.38 crore voters. 

Of the remaining 2.64 crore voters who made it to the draft list, over 92 lakh people (or 35% of the draft roll) were marked to receive notices due to anomalies or non-mapping with the previous 2002 SIR. 

The Hindu reported that of those who received such notices, so far, 72.47 lakh electors (nearly 78% of those who were marked for notices) have already been cleared by ECI officials.

Hyderabad district saw the highest number of claims and objections, with 1,94,204 Form 6 applications, 1,44,800 Form 8 and 6,335 Form 7 applications, resulting in 2,066 deletions, according to The New Indian Express.