The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee complained to CEO C. Sudharshan Reddy about pre-printed forms used for bulk voter deletions in Musheerabad. The CEO said, "Bulk applications for deletion of electors submitted by anybody will undergo thorough scrutiny before the deletions are effected." Officials will verify every claim before removing names.
A complaint to Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharshan Reddy by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) about pre-printed applications for bulk deletion of voter names in Musheerabad constituency has opened a can of worms, adding to fears about a particular section of the electorate being targeted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Allegations are being made about applications for bulk deletion of electors during the Claims & Objections phase of SIR in Karnataka.
Fresh allegations in Telangana are about an application by a booth level agent of Bharatiya Janata Party from Musheerabad constituency submitting Form-7 applications seeking deletion of Congress party's BLA and over 30 members of his family.
The names of all the family members along with the address were pre-printed on the forms, with only the name of the applicant hand-written, raising suspicions about large scale political conspiracy.
TPCC, in its representation, has raised serious concerns about pre-printed application forms being prepared and circulated on a wider scale targeting Congress leaders and their supporters, and expressed suspicion that BLAs may have got the material through party channels. It sought thorough investigation into the matter and action against the errant.
Thorough scrutiny
Mr. Reddy said that bulk applications for deletion of electors submitted by anybody will undergo thorough scrutiny before the deletions are effected.
While Election Commission of India has clarified that any registered voter within a specific constituency could submit any number of forms, it has also said that a single person filing more than five objections will trigger a mandatory review by the Electoral Registration Officer.
Mere submission of Form-7 does not lead to removal of a person from rolls without proper authentication and verification, the CEO said, responding to queries.
If the elector's mobile number is linked to his EPIC number, an SMS will be sent alerting him/her about the application for deletion. The abstract of Form 7 applications will be displayed on the ERO's notice board for seven days. Further, a hearing notice will be served to both the objector and the person whose name is proposed for deletion, directly in person or through registered post or by affixing it at the person's residence.
Death certificate from the competent authority obtained by the BLO or submitted by the family member or a list of deceased electors obtained from the database of the Registrar of Births and Deaths will be accepted as authentic proof of the death of an elector.
Where the death is not established from such records, the BLO's field verification becomes important. Hence, in each and every death case filed in Form 7, unless a report from the BLO confirms it, deletion will not be effected, Mr. Reddy assured.