Hyderabad: Owaisi flags attempt to file bulk Form 7 applications in Goshamahal

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has alleged yet another instance of misuse of Form 7 during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, this time in the Goshamahal Assembly seat under the Hyderabad parliamentary constituency. 

Pre-printed Form 7 copies seeking the deletion of a total of 122 electors, all Muslims, were allegedly submitted but rejected by the Booth Level Officer (BLO) of polling station number 28, according to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief. 

Owaisi said that the forms were submitted by a man named Thudumu Janardhan, allegedly a supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He referred to a memo issued by the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer, C Sudharshan Reddy, on October 5, acknowledging instances of bulk applications of Form 7, and directing Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to take action against such applicants who have filed false objections. 

Citing the Goshamahal example, Owaisi asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to order an inquiry against the applicant or file a police complaint to retain the trust of the public. 

However, Goshamahal ERO G Umaprakash said that while there have been attempts to file bulk Form 7 applications, “when they are told that they shouldn’t give unsigned pre-printed forms and must provide supporting evidence for their claims, they are quietly taking them back.”

The ERO said that since the applicants haven’t forced BLOs to accept the forms, no action is being taken against them. “They just asked them to take the forms, asking is not wrong. They did not exert pressure, or leave the forms with BLOs,” he said. 

He stressed that BLOs were not accepting pre-printed copies of Form 7 without relevant supporting documents. 

Owaisi said that AIMIM workers verified nearly 60 of the 122 electors whose names were sought to be deleted on the pre-printed forms. He said all of them were mapped to the 2002 voter rolls and were present on the recent SIR draft roll. Some of them had received notices during SIR, which they had responded to, he said. 

“One of the forms names 85-year-old Mirza Farookh Baig, born and raised here and a well-known member of the neighbourhood. All 15 of his family members were sought to be deleted. Who is printing these? Is it the BJP? Who gave them the authority to bring pre-printed forms targeting a particular community? If not the Sangh Parivar, then who is doing this? My apprehension is, we don't know what is happening in the rest of Telangana. If BLOs aren’t alert and accept such forms, many people risk deletion,” Owaisi said. 

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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 death, absenteeism or a permanent shift from their residence, being already enrolled in the electoral rolls elsewhere, being under 18 years of age, or not being an Indian citizen. Any elector registered in the existing electoral roll of a constituency can file a Form 7 application seeking the deletion of another elector within the same constituency.