New Delhi: To prevent bulk or malicious attempts to remove legitimate voters from electoral rolls, the Election Commission on Friday introduced specific caps on how many Form 7 applications a single registered elector can submit. These restrictions apply equally, whether the forms are submitted online or offline.
During the special period designated for filing claims and objections – typically known as the Summary Revision period – an individual voter is allowed to submit a maximum of 10 Form 7 applications.
Once this revision period concludes, the process shifts to continuous updation. During this routine period of voter list updation, individual voters are limited to submitting no more than five Form 7 applications in a single calendar month.
The directive comes amid a widening controversy, particularly in Karnataka, over alleged bulk filing of Form 7 applications during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has accused BJP-linked individuals of attempting to remove eligible voters and demanded a criminal investigation. Complaints in several constituencies have led to FIRs over alleged false or forged deletion applications. Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer has said that no voter had been deleted on the basis of the objections received, even as the scale of the filings prompted scrutiny.
“Maximum number of Form 7 applications during the entire period of claims and objections by an individual elector: 10,” the EC said in its notice on Friday. It added that the maximum during continuous updation would be “5 per month”.
The poll body said it had received reports of individual electors filing objections in bulk on unsubstantiated grounds, causing inconvenience to voters whose names were challenged and increasing the workload of field officials.
Under Rule 13(2) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, Form 7 objections can be filed only by a person whose name is already on the electoral roll of the constituency concerned. The EC permits recognised political parties’ Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to submit up to 50 forms a day before publication of the draft roll during the revision exercise, and 10 a day thereafter. The commission said the rules had not specified a numerical cap for physical forms submitted in bulk by individual electors, leaving the matter to Electoral Registration Officers. It has now prescribed a uniform limit for both modes of filing.
The notice also directs electoral officers to verify applicants’ identities, ensure forms are complete and carry the objector’s original signature, and reject applications that do not meet the prescribed requirements. A signature seal cannot substitute for an original signature, it said.
Where objections require adjudication, the Electoral Registration Officer must hear the objector and give the voter whose name is challenged an opportunity to be heard before passing an order. The commission has also directed officials to initiate action under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, where an applicant is found to have knowingly made a false written statement or declaration.
Chief Electoral Officers have been asked to circulate the instructions to electoral registration officials and other field-level functionaries and ensure adequate publicity
