First FIR over Form 7 misuse in Telangana; BJP booth agent booked for plea against 30 Muslim voters

Hyderabad Police have registered a case against a BJP Booth Level Agent (BLA) for allegedly submitting Form 7 applications seeking the deletion of 30 voters from the electoral rolls in the Musheerabad Assembly constituency. All 30 voters are Muslim, according to the complaint. The case against BJP's S Balachander was filed by Musheerabad Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) T Praveen Kumar Reddy following a preliminary inquiry into the applications. The development comes a day before the claims and objections period under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Telangana is scheduled to end. According to the FIR, Balachander arrived with 30 "pre-printed Form-7s and made efforts to submit them to the BLO, Polling Station No. 210, on September 28, 2026, with a mala fide intention for deleting voters not connected to him". The Booth Level Officer (BLO) and BLO Supervisor "collectively refused to receive" the forms despite "repeated requests from the said BLA of BJP", the FIR said. Balachander then "left the forms (on) the BLO's premises and fled". The documents allegedly carried the names of the voters whose electoral roll entries were being challenged. Political opponents of the BJP have cited this as evidence that the Form 7 applications were "centrally generated" from the party office. A field inquiry conducted by officials on October 1 found that all 30 people named in the applications were residents of Musheerabad, according to the FIR. The voters included a Congress BLA. "Therefore, the form-7s in question cannot be accepted and (are) liable for rejection," the FIR stated. Balachander has been booked under Sections 217 and 318(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deal with providing false information to a government officer and cheating, respectively. He has also been booked under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The issue has also been reported in other parts of Hyderabad. Similar Form 7 applications containing pre-printed voter details have been reported from the Bahadurpura and Goshamahal Assembly constituencies. Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) C Sudarshan Reddy on Monday issued a memo to district collectors and District Election Officers, directing them to act against people submitting false Form 7 applications. The memo came after officials received reports of such instances. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that similar "false" Form 7 applications had been submitted in Goshamahal to target Muslim voters. "Our request to the CEO is to not spare anyone who is spreading this hatred against Muslims," Owaisi said. The BJP has rejected allegations that it is attempting to remove voters from electoral rolls. BJP state president N Ramchander Rao accused the Congress of "misguiding" people about the Election Commission. Telangana had 3.39 crore registered voters before the SIR exercise began on June 15. The draft electoral roll subsequently removed the names of 73.39 lakh voters, while notices were issued to 92 lakh voters. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 9.