The Election Commission of India (ECI) told the Supreme Court on Friday that while it found false Form 7s used to remove voters during the Uttar Pradesh Special Intensive Revision (SIR), none were accepted. Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, representing the ECI, said corrective measures were taken immediately after discovering these false forms. Authorities rejected any Form 7s that violated rules.
The court was responding to a petition filed by Congress MP Tanuj Punia, who alleged widespread misuse and fraud during the bulk filing of Form 7s in Uttar Pradesh’s SIR process. Advocate Shariq Ahmed questioned the ECI’s claim that false forms were stopped at the gates. He argued that the lack of corrective measures emboldened such actions in other states like Karnataka and Telangana.
In Hata Assembly constituency, two out of 32 Form 7s were signed by a booth-level officer, all targeting voters from one community. The court asked Ahmed to submit a detailed note on the issue. It also directed the ECI to investigate and file a compliance report.
The Uttar Pradesh SIR process ended in April, adding 84 lakh new voters to take the total to 13.39 crore. Over two crore voters were removed during the revision. The ECI’s affidavit mentioned multiple reports of bulk Form 7s being submitted, including an incident where a person named Yogendra left 32 forms at a booth officer’s desk but remains untraceable.
The ECI said it directed booth-level officers (BLOs) not to digitize forms without proper checks and not to accept bulk submissions. It also found false forms in envelopes at BLOs’ homes, which were denied by those whose names were on them.
Form 7s are used to delete voter names and must be filed with proper details, including an Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) and phone number. The ECI’s affidavit highlighted several instances of false declarations and fraud in the process, raising concerns about the integrity of the objection mechanism.