E-Paper
SIR drive: UP CEO rejects SP claims of voter deletions through Form-7
Replying to questions by media persons on the allegations levelled by Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav regarding Form-7 misuse to delete the names of a large number of voters belonging to a particular community and supporters of opposition parties, the CEO said complaints submitted by the SP were examined on the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa on Tuesday termed the opposition’s allegations that voters’ names were being deleted from the electoral roll through large-scale filing of Form-7 during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) as “baseless”.
Replying to questions by media persons on the allegations levelled by Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav regarding Form-7 misuse to delete the names of a large number of voters belonging to a particular community and supporters of opposition parties, the CEO said complaints submitted by the SP were examined on the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
He said the district magistrate (district election officer) of Ballia sought a report from the electoral registration officer (ERO) on an SP complaint regarding deletion of the name of the wife of Mohammad Ziauddin Rizvi, MLA from Sikandarpur assembly constituency, along with 126 other voters. The ERO stated in his report that neither the MLA’s wife nor the 126 voters had been deleted from the electoral roll, Rinwa said.
Similarly, SP complaints regarding alleged deletion of the name of Atiq Ahmed, the party’s booth-level agent in Bhojipur assembly constituency, removal of 16 voters in Sakaldiha using fake documents, deletion of voters’ names in Bidhuna using a forged certificate of the SP district president, removal of 65 voters in Babaganj (Pratapgarh), and deletion of over 100 voters in Basti district were also found baseless after inquiries by the respective district election officers, he added.
Rinwa said deletion of names from the electoral roll cannot be done arbitrarily and involves a transparent process.
He explained that anyone seeking deletion of a voter’s name must submit Form-7 and be a voter in the same assembly constituency. The applicant must provide details including name, voter ID number, reason for deletion and signature. A notice is issued to both the applicant and the voter concerned, and the district election officer takes a decision only on the basis of substantive evidence. Legal action is taken in case of a false declaration, he added.
1.35 lakh Form-7 applications received till February 16
According to data released by the UP CEO’s office, about 1.35 lakh Form-7 applications seeking deletion of names had been received till Monday (February 16) following publication of the draft electoral roll on January 6. Earlier, 49,399 Form-7 applications had been submitted before publication of the draft roll. There has also been a surge in Form-6 applications for inclusion of names in the voter list. Till Monday, 53.84 lakh Form-6 applications had been received, compared to 16.18 lakh before publication of the draft roll.
Training programme
The CEO attended a training programme organised in Uttar Pradesh Academy of Administration and Management (UPAM) for district election officers and electoral registration officers on the SIR process. The district magistrates of Chitrakoot, Balrampur, Basti, Hathras, Shravasti, and Kaushambi, and 55 EROs from the six districts were briefed on how to add names to the voter list, amend and dispose of voter complaints. Information was also provided regarding digital platforms related to voter list management -- ERO Net system and the BLO App.
