A booth-level officer in Hyderabad’s Goshamahal constituency refused to accept a batch of pre-printed Form 7 applications during Telangana’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, prompting a political dispute over alleged attempts to delete voters in bulk.
The forms were submitted at Booth 173 in September-end by a booth-level agent, or BLA, associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, according to The Indian Express. The BLO, who works as a Junior Assistant at Osmania Medical College, told the newspaper that the applications contained printed EPIC numbers but no names.
“It’s not possible to accept these Form 7s,” the BLO is heard saying in a video of the incident. He told The Indian Express that he did not have instructions from his superior officers to receive such forms and therefore decided not to accept them. The officer did not want to be identified, saying he did not want publicity for an action carried out as part of his official duty.
The video became public after the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee released it on Saturday, three days after it was recorded, according to the report. The Congress said it had complained to the Chief Electoral Officer about apprehensions of a larger conspiracy to delete voters in bulk during the revision exercise.
The forms accessed by the Congress contained no names. A Congress source alleged that the applications were in the final stages of being filed by the BJP BLA. Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao said in a press conference on Sunday that BJP BLAs had not submitted bulk Form 7 applications and accused the Congress of spreading malicious propaganda against constitutional institutions, the report said.
Form 7 is used by an elector to request deletion of their own name or to object to the inclusion of another elector in the constituency. Under the current revision process, the period for filing claims and objections is scheduled to end on October 7.
The incident is not the first such dispute reported in Hyderabad during the revision. On October 1, an instance of alleged bulk Form 7 filing surfaced in the Musheerabad constituency. The applications reportedly sought deletion of 31 electors, including a Congress booth-level agent and members of his family. Another pre-printed Form 7 was later flagged in Bahadurpura constituency, according to the report.
The office of Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Sudarshan Reddy told The Indian Express that an inquiry into the Goshamahal matter was under way. “If some are targeting people by filing bulk Form 7s, we will take strict action,” the CEO’s office said.
The BJP’s chief spokesperson in Telangana, NV Subhash, said the applications were being filed against Rohingyas whom he alleged were not Indian citizens. He claimed that political parties including the AIMIM, Congress and BRS supported their enrolment, and said there was nothing wrong with filing Form 7 applications to prevent ineligible persons from voting. These claims were not independently established in the report.
Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that if false Form 7 applications were being filed, the Election Commission should act against those responsible. The Chief Electoral Officer’s inquiry remains the next official step in determining whether the applications were improperly submitted and whether further action is warranted before the October 7 deadline.