BLOs Go Wary of Accepting Form 7 Applications

Hyderabad:Thousands of pre-printed Form-7 applications intended for submission across Assembly constituencies in the city were allegedly held back after election officials and booth-level officers (BLOs) were alerted following an incident in the Musheerabad Assembly constituency, where objections were reportedly filed against members of a Muslim family.

Officially, close to 30,000 Form-7 applications have been submitted in Telangana. Officials were reluctant to disclose details of bulk Form-7 applications submitted by political parties.

“If at all, Form-7 applications are received in bulk, say from a political party, they have to be properly inquired into and verified, and speaking order and a typed order have to be given,” a senior official said.

Concerns over bulk submission of Form-7 applications have emerged following allegations involving BJP booth-level agents (BLAs) in the Bahadurpura, Goshamahal and Musheerabad Assembly constituencies. Citizens have sought strict compliance with Election Commission of India procedures to ensure that eligible voters are not removed from the electoral rolls without due verification.

“Proper protocols should be adopted to ensure SIR remains a genuine exercise. If a Form-7 application is filed, a preliminary scrutiny followed by steps, including verification of objector’s eligibility, verification of stated ground, notice to concerned elector, opportunity to submit response or evidence, BLO or ERO verification wherever required, reasoned order by competent authority and appeal or review remedy as applicable should be followed,” said advocate Neha Amreen of Attapur, who submitted a representation to Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharshan Reddy.

Sources in the Congress alleged that thousands of pre-printed Form-7 applications in each Assembly constituency were held back following attention on the Musheerabad incident.

“BLOs are reluctant to accept forms, forcing the plans of such submissions deferred. It came to light that in one of the Assembly constituencies in Hyderabad alone, there are 70,000 forms with the BJP’s constituency incharge, which are held up now,” PCC Election Commission coordination committee chairman Pulipati Rajesh Kumar alleged.

Government adviser Mohammed Ali Shabbir urged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to order stringent action, including registration of FIRs, over the alleged misuse of Form-7 applications to seek deletion of genuine voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Shabbir Ali said FIRs had been registered in Karnataka following complaints by electors at Narasimharaja in Mysuru, Bhalki in Bidar and Market police station in Belagavi. He said the Election Commission had also ordered an inquiry into the complaints. He urged the state government to adopt a similar approach so that allegedly false Form-7 applications were not treated merely as routine electoral objections.

Of nearly 93 lakh notices issued during the electoral roll revision, about three lakh remained pending. Around 65 lakh voters completed the hearing process, of whom 54 lakh were included in the final rolls as eligible voters.