Bulk filing of Form-7 seeking deletion of names of Muslim community in Enkoor of Bidar district, alleges CPI(M)

A delegation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI(M), visited Enkoor village in Bhalki taluk of Bidar district on Thursday and gathered information regarding alleged large-scale filing of Form-7 applications seeking deletion of names from the electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

The delegation, comprising CPI(M) State secretariat member K. Neela and Bidar district committee members Prabhu Santoshkar, Gausoddin and Shashikant Dange, met residents belonging to different communities and collected information about the SIR process. The members also spoke to two Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to gather details about the applications.

According to the delegation, Form-7 applications had been filed targeting voters belonging to the Muslim community. It claimed that 68 applications covering two polling booths had been uploaded on September 22, while another 198 applications had allegedly remained with the complainant without being uploaded.

“The residents of the village informed us that they had faced pressure to fill and submit such forms. The total number of Muslim electors in Enkoor was around 725, and Form-7 applications have been used in an attempt to seek deletion of the names of a substantial portion of them,” Ms. Neela said.

Form-7 is the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) prescribed form for raising an objection to the inclusion of a name or seeking deletion of an existing entry from the electoral roll. The ECI guidelines state that the applicant has to specify a prescribed reason for the objection or deletion, and the responsibility for substantiating the reason rests with the applicant.

The villagers, according to the CPI(M) delegation, opposed the alleged attempt to remove the names of voters and expressed concern that the exercise could affect the voting rights of people who had been living together in the village for generations.

The delegation said that the residents pointed out that Muharram is observed every year in Enkoor, with people from different communities participating in the cultural and religious observances. The villagers reportedly said that people of different communities had traditionally lived together without discrimination and expressed opposition to any alleged attempt to create divisions for political purposes.

The CPI(M) delegation said it had also collected information from Nittoor and Khatak Chincholi villages as part of its assessment of the Form-7 applications and the SIR process.

“The pattern of applications indicated a systematic attempt to target a particular community. We are shocked to know that such an exercise could lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters,” Ms. Neela said, adding that the delegation would examine the information gathered during the visit.