Saurabh Mukherjee
The use of Form 7 by election officials to seek the deletion of voters’ names from electoral rolls, previously reported in West Bengal, has now emerged as a concern in Karnataka, where officials submitted applications targeting 61,059 voters, according to a report by The Hindu.
The applications were filed even after the deadline for submitting claims and objections had passed, raising questions about the functioning of the automated system used during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The newspaper reported that none of the applications filed by election officials specified a reason for seeking the deletion of the voters’ names. The forms were reportedly “auto-generated”.
When The Hindu checked the status of a sample of the voters concerned, it found that their names had “already been deleted from the electoral roll”. The checks were presumably conducted after October 22, the deadline for disposing of the applications.
It remains unclear whether mandatory hearing notices were issued to the affected voters or whether orders were passed before their names were removed. The newspaper noted that the relevant details concerning the grounds for deletion had been left blank.
The report also found that election officials had filed more Form 7 applications than voters or third parties in at least 26 Assembly constituencies. In Bengaluru’s Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike South district, officials submitted 10,374 of the 17,491 applications received, the highest number attributed to election staff.
The figure of 61,059 includes applications filed against voters after September 23. These cases are separate from the more than 1.07 crore names removed from the draft electoral rolls during the SIR.
According to the report, “Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), listed as the objectors in these applications, said the system ‘auto-generated’ the forms with their digital signatures when voters could not be reached during hearings on notices issued for no mapping or logical discrepancies, and the voters were therefore marked as ineligible’,”
The apparent explanation offered by the officials points to a possible flaw in the automated process. Voters who could not be contacted by EROs and AEROs during proceedings relating to mapping issues or logical discrepancies were reportedly marked as ineligible, leading the system to generate Form 7 applications seeking their removal.
However, the timing of the applications has raised further questions. Karnataka’s period for claims and objections during the SIR ended on September 23, yet more than 60,800 applications were reportedly submitted after that date.
Between August 24 and September 23, only 192 such applications were received, according to the newspaper. The numbers rose sharply towards the end of October. Election officials filed 10,105 applications on October 22, the final day for disposing of claims and objections. A further 10,314 were submitted on October 21, while 11,132 and 11,760 applications were filed on October 17 and 19, respectively.
The report also highlighted provisions under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, that govern the submission of objections. Rule 17 states that any claim or objection not lodged within the prescribed period or in the prescribed form and manner “shall be rejected by the registration office”.
The rules also require objections to be submitted in the prescribed manner, including stating the reasons for challenging a voter’s inclusion in the rolls.
The latest disclosures come amid wider concerns over the use of Form 7 in Karnataka. Earlier reports pointed to bulk applications seeking the deletion of thousands of names across several districts, including more than 4,000 applications that reportedly sought the removal of voters, most of them Muslims.
The scale and timing of the applications, the absence of recorded reasons and the reported deletion of names have raised concerns about procedural safeguards in the electoral revision exercise and the possibility that flaws in the automated system could lead to eligible voters being removed from the rolls.
The applications were filed even after the deadline for submitting claims and objections had passed, raising questions about the functioning of the automated system used during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The newspaper reported that none of the applications filed by election officials specified a reason for seeking the deletion of the voters’ names. The forms were reportedly “auto-generated”.
When The Hindu checked the status of a sample of the voters concerned, it found that their names had “already been deleted from the electoral roll”. The checks were presumably conducted after October 22, the deadline for disposing of the applications.
It remains unclear whether mandatory hearing notices were issued to the affected voters or whether orders were passed before their names were removed. The newspaper noted that the relevant details concerning the grounds for deletion had been left blank.
The report also found that election officials had filed more Form 7 applications than voters or third parties in at least 26 Assembly constituencies. In Bengaluru’s Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike South district, officials submitted 10,374 of the 17,491 applications received, the highest number attributed to election staff.
The figure of 61,059 includes applications filed against voters after September 23. These cases are separate from the more than 1.07 crore names removed from the draft electoral rolls during the SIR.
According to the report, “Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), listed as the objectors in these applications, said the system ‘auto-generated’ the forms with their digital signatures when voters could not be reached during hearings on notices issued for no mapping or logical discrepancies, and the voters were therefore marked as ineligible’,”
The apparent explanation offered by the officials points to a possible flaw in the automated process. Voters who could not be contacted by EROs and AEROs during proceedings relating to mapping issues or logical discrepancies were reportedly marked as ineligible, leading the system to generate Form 7 applications seeking their removal.
However, the timing of the applications has raised further questions. Karnataka’s period for claims and objections during the SIR ended on September 23, yet more than 60,800 applications were reportedly submitted after that date.
Between August 24 and September 23, only 192 such applications were received, according to the newspaper. The numbers rose sharply towards the end of October. Election officials filed 10,105 applications on October 22, the final day for disposing of claims and objections. A further 10,314 were submitted on October 21, while 11,132 and 11,760 applications were filed on October 17 and 19, respectively.
The report also highlighted provisions under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, that govern the submission of objections. Rule 17 states that any claim or objection not lodged within the prescribed period or in the prescribed form and manner “shall be rejected by the registration office”.
The rules also require objections to be submitted in the prescribed manner, including stating the reasons for challenging a voter’s inclusion in the rolls.
The latest disclosures come amid wider concerns over the use of Form 7 in Karnataka. Earlier reports pointed to bulk applications seeking the deletion of thousands of names across several districts, including more than 4,000 applications that reportedly sought the removal of voters, most of them Muslims.
The scale and timing of the applications, the absence of recorded reasons and the reported deletion of names have raised concerns about procedural safeguards in the electoral revision exercise and the possibility that flaws in the automated system could lead to eligible voters being removed from the rolls.
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