The Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has seen allegations of bulk filing of applications seeking to delete voters’ names from draft lists using Form 7 in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and, more recently Uttarakhand. Ground reports by from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat noted that these forms were often filed in bulk fraudulently using names of people who were unaware of the filing. In several instances, hundreds of objections were filed under a single person’s name. Form 7 is filed to object to an existing name — or to request its deletion — on the electoral rolls for reasons such as death, shifting, or ineligibility. The ECI’s Booth Level Officer or the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) has to conduct an inquiry on the application and issue a notice to the voter before taking any action. While Booth Level Agents (BLA) of political parties can file up to 10 Form 7s a day, totalling 30, there is no limit on how many forms an individual registered as a voter from the same constituency can submit. To prevent misuse, the ECI has said that if a person files more than five objections, it will trigger a mandatory review by the ERO to ensure the legitimacy of the claims.

The Opposition parties have alleged that the form was being misused through “systemic and coordinated efforts” to delete names of eligible voters and embolden the BJP’s efforts to wrongfully gain electoral advantage. In the case of Uttarakhand, the Congress has alleged that the manner in which the bulk forms were submitted online pointed to “institutional” access being granted to some in the process. These parties have also sent delegations and submitted representations to the ECI. What is important to note is that in most cases, voters were unaware that applications for deletion of their names had been filed at all, leaving it to workers of political parties active in the constituency to bring it to their notice. According to ECI data, for the third phase of the SIR covering 16 States/three Union Territories there are 3,42,409 BLAs of political parties for an electorate of 36,73,87,831 or one BLA for approximately 1,073 voters. These numbers include agents from ruling and Opposition parties. In such a situation, it is incumbent upon the ECI to step in and protect the voting rights of an individual rather than leave it to the grassroot strength of political parties. The ECI should thus take immediate steps to address this concern. Abnormal patterns should be investigated and the process should be monitored, with a uniform, country-wide Standard Operating Procedure, requiring verification of identity and constituency of the objector and the following of due process before any elector is deleted pursuant to a Form 7.