Form 7 alone cannot delete voter, says CEO

CH NEWS BENGALURU Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer has clarified that filing a Form 7 objection does not automatically result in deletion of a voter’s name from the electoral roll. The clarification comes amid allegations of misuse of Form 7 during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Congress has alleged that BJP and JD(S) workers distributed Form 7 applications in bulk to facilitate voter deletions. The party had also approached the Election Commission with a complaint. State Chief Electoral Officer V. Anbukumar said the prescribed procedure requires a notice to be issued to the concerned voter, followed by a hearing and verification before any decision is taken. He said 91,278 Form 7 applications had been received in Karnataka between June 16 and October 4, but no voter had been deleted solely on the basis of these objections. No case had been registered in connection with Form 7 so far. Anbukumar said 43,82,313 notices had been generated across the state, of which 43,55,818 had been delivered. Another 26,495 notices were pending delivery. Hearings in 36,89,063 cases had been completed, while 6,66,755 remained pending. October 22 is the deadline for disposal of objections. He said eligible voters left out during the revision would be given an opportunity to re-enter the electoral rolls through a special campaign, with Form 6 applications accepted after the SIR process.