Congress flags 'coordinated' Form-7 misuse in SIR, writes to Election Commission
The Congress has asked the Election Commission to tighten scrutiny of Form-7 objections, alleging organised misuse during the SIR could disenfranchise lakhs of voters.
The Congress has approached the Election Commission of India with a complaint that Form-7 is being misused in an organised manner to strike off eligible voters during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In a letter to the poll body, party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal described the alleged deletions as "systematic and coordinated" and warned that they could disenfranchise lakhs of electors, with backward and marginalised communities bearing the brunt.
Form-7, notified under Rule 26 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, exists for a narrow purpose: raising a specific, verifiable objection to an entry on the rolls. Any such objection must carry clear identity particulars and documentary grounds.
The Congress letter contends that the forms being filed in bulk frequently fail these tests, citing illegible names, invalid phone numbers and faulty EPIC details, and arguing that many do not identify the objector in any verifiable way.
Mr. Venugopal said the pattern was first noticed in Rajasthan and later surfaced in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala — a spread the party says shows the problem is neither local nor isolated.
According to the complaint, several people named as objectors turned out to be BJP booth-level agents, while others denied having filed any objection at all. Party workers and media accounts, the letter says, also pointed to individuals affiliated to the BJP using pre-printed Form-7 documents to press for deletions on a large scale.
In Assam, the Congress alleged, members of the ruling party entered election offices and tried to access databases in order to facilitate deletions through Form-7. In Rajasthan, senior party leaders had already aired the issue publicly, cautioning that unchecked misuse could damage the credibility of the revision exercise.
Calling the situation gravely worrying, the Congress urged the Commission to act at once — subjecting Form-7 applications to strict scrutiny, issuing uniform guidelines to curb misuse, and using its constitutional powers to probe the alleged violations. It also sought legal action, including FIRs, where false declarations appear to have been made deliberately.