SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi warned of protests over the alleged misuse of Form-7 during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Telangana.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) allows voters to use Form-7 to object to the inclusion of a name in an electoral roll or seek deletion of an existing entry. The form covers several grounds, including death, permanent shifting, duplicate enrolment, under-age registration, and a person allegedly not being an Indian citizen.
Asaduddin Owaisi on Form-7 ‘misuse’ during SIR in Hyderabad
Addressing the 57th ‘Jalsa-e-Milad-un-Nabi’ at Milad Maidan on Saturday, October 3, he appealed to the Election Commission to take action against those who are filing Form-7 with false claims.
He said that if the filing of Form-7 with false claims does not stop, Hyderabad will witness protests bigger than what Delhi’s Jantar Mantar saw.
Pre-printed Form-7
The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) submitted a written complaint to Chief Electoral Officer, C Sudharshan Reddy, over submission of pre-printed Form-7 applications.
The party alleged that they were submitted against Congress BLA Shafiuddin and 30 members of his family by Balachander (Balu), stated to be a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Booth Level Agent (BLA) of booth number 210 of Musheerabad Assembly Constituency.
“What makes this matter particularly serious is the allegation that the Form-7 applications were pre-printed and prepared in advance”.
Apart from the claims by Congress and Asaduddin Owaisi, media reports stated that a large number of Form-7 applications with alleged false claims were uncovered during SIR in Bahadurpura Assembly Constituency in Hyderabad.
Form-7 does not automatically delete voter name
A Form-7 objection filed against a voter does not automatically lead to deletion of the person’s name from the electoral roll. Once received, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) examines it and makes an appropriate decision after a thorough verification.
But before taking the specified deletion action, the ERO is required to give the person concerned a reasonable opportunity of being heard.
Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1950, deals with correction of entries and deletion from electoral rolls.
The ECI’s Form-7 guidelines place the onus of proof to substantiate the reason given for the objection or removal of a name on the applicant.
If, after examination and verification, the ERO concludes that the legal requirements for deletion have been met, the person’s electoral-roll entry may be deleted.
The affected person is not necessarily without a remedy. Section 24 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, provides an appeal mechanism against relevant decisions under Sections 22 and 23.
However, as Form-7 applications with false claims trigger a process, they may put an unnecessary burden on the election officials, who are already struggling with time due to the ongoing SIR, and the electors against whom the applications were made.
SOURCE : SIASAT
