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“I was a voter here in 2002 and I’m still on the draft rolls,” said 56-year-old Vakeel Ahmed Munshi from Karnataka’s Bhalki. He has run a shop called Zee Mobile at the same location for the past 37 years near Sangamesh theatre in Bhalki.
But over the past week, he found that a man named Sangamesh had filed an objection against the inclusion of his name in the voter rolls in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). A Form 7 had been filed against Ahmed, claiming that he no longer lived at the address.
In Bhalki, several residents like Ahmed who have lived in the same locality for generations, have found similar objections filed against them during the SIR.
TNM had reported on Saturday, September 26, that objections had been raised to the inclusion of about 3,909 people, mostly Muslim, in Bhalki and Babaleshwar constituencies, represented by Congress ministers MB Patil and Eshwar Khandre respectively.
It has now come to light that 525 more such objections were filed on September 24 in Bhalki, with the same pattern: the majority of names objected to were those of Muslims, and a small group of people had filed the applications.
Twenty people had filed all but two of the 525 applications and nearly all the people whose names they sought to delete through Form 7 were Muslim.
Objections to their inclusion on the electoral rolls were filed under Form 7 in the 48 hours before the deadline to file claims and objections for the ongoing SIR expired on September 24.
Form 7 is submitted to object to the inclusion of someone’s name on the electoral rolls, either one’s own or another person’s.
The period for filing claims (inclusion in the electoral rolls or correction of information on voter ID card) and objections (removal of names from the electoral rolls) was between August 24 and September 24. The ECI will dispose of claims and objections until October 22 and the final electoral roll will be published on October 27.
TNM accessed this data using Form 10 statements, which are a consolidated daily summary of Form 7 received on a particular day. Form 10 statements are uploaded on the Election Commission of India’s website and accessible for a period of seven days.
Form 7 applications were filed en masse by a total of 38 people, each of whom filed dozens of applications across multiple voting booths in Bhalki and Babaleshwar constituencies, claiming that the voters concerned no longer lived there or were already enrolled elsewhere.
Voters in Bhalki whose names were sought to be deleted have disputed these claims, saying that they have never lived anywhere else.
Vakeel Ahmed Munshi, a voter in booth number 111 whose name figured both in the 2002 electoral roll and the 2026 draft roll, told TNM, “People are deliberately targeting those from one community. How are they doing this? How can one person file objections against so many people?”
He said that there were 700 voters in his voting booth and alleged that many others’ names were also objected to through Form 7.
An analysis of the Form 10 statements found that Form 7 objections had been filed against 56 people from booth number 111 between September 22 and 24 . The objectors included Sangamesh, Pandu Ranga, Pandurang, and Vijay Kumar. The majority of these—40 objections—had been filed by Pandu Ranga on September 24.
Asked if he knew Sangamesh who filed the Form 7 against hims, Ahmed replied, “Sangamesh lives in the lane behind my house. I know he is some type of leader, but I don’t know what he does,” Ahmed said.
So far, Ahmed is the only in his family whose inclusion on the electoral rolls has been objected to.
Ahmed’s acquaintance Murtuja Maniyar’s name was also objected to.
According to the Bhalki Form 10 statement dated September 23, a man named Pandu Ranga filed Form 7 seeking the deletion of Murtuja’s name on grounds that he had permanently shifted. Murtuja did not know anyone named Pandu Ranga.
“We have lived in the same location for three generations, we haven’t even moved within the area,” Murtuja’s son Mufeet told TNM.
The situation in Bhalki has raised allegations from activists and political parties that a systematic attempt is being made to disenfranchise Muslims.
The Association for the Protection of Civil Liberties (APCR) has filed complaints with the Deputy Commissioner of Bidar district by email. Shazin Siddique of APCR told TNM that until September 26 morning, they had not received any response.
State president of the Welfare Party of India Taher Hussain held a press conference in Bidar district, where Bhalki is located, alleging that a systematic attempt was being made to deny Muslims their right to vote.
The Registration of Electors Rules 1960 lays down the procedure to be followed for claims and objections. Section 18 allows designated officers to either accept or reject Form 7 without inquiry, unless a demand for inquiry is made in writing to the officer before the Form 7 has been accepted. This means that an officer has the power to simply strike a name off the rolls if s/he feels that the objections to someone’s inclusion are valid.
