Form 7 withdrawals, rejections follow Maharashtra scrutiny on false objections

An election official said Form 7 withdrawals started after they started initiating action and the first FIR was registered in Dharavi three weeks ago

 A large number of Form 7 applications filed by Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and private complainants seeking the deletion of voters’ names have been withdrawn or rejected during scrutiny in Mumbai and adjoining constituencies as the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered action against those filing false objections during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Voters visit a special camp for enrolment and correction of electoral details after receiving notices during the final round of special camps (Hindustan Times/Arvind Yadav)

People familiar with the matter said instances of withdrawing Form 7 applications came after the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) told Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to place the burden of proof on complainants and initiate criminal action against false filings. The first FIR was registered in Dharavi three weeks ago.

Amit Sanap, electoral registration officer (ERO) for Bhiwandi East, said his office had rejected 80% of the 540 Form 7 applications received for the constituency. Political party BLAs filed 480 of them. Some of them could face criminal action for submitting false information.

“We received 540 applications seeking deletions through Form 7, of which over 450 have been rejected. We will initiate action once the formal orders are prepared. We found that the people against whom Form 7 applications were filed, alleging that they did not live at the given addresses, were actually residing there,” he said.

A senior state election official said EROs were told that the onus of proving an ineligible elector has been registered rests with the objector filing Form 7. “We have strictly instructed officials to verify the complaints first by summoning the complainant. We do not want a repeat of the deletion of voters’ names through Form 7, as witnessed in other states. However, we have allowed complainants to withdraw their applications if they wish to do so,” the official said.

“Withdrawals have started taking place after the election machinery began initiating action and the first FIR was registered in Dharavi three weeks ago,” the official added.

With the current phase of the SIR scheduled to conclude this Friday, ECI has received over 2.3 million forms for additions, deletions, and corrections, including more than 95,000 Form 7 applications seeking voter deletions in the state.

Form 7 has been controversial in several states where the SIR was conducted earlier, over allegations that political party BLAs abused the facility to delete the names of people perceived as supporters of rival parties.

To avoid allegations of wrongful deletions, ECI in October capped the number of Form 7 applications that an individual can file at 10, saying bulk objections on “unsubstantiated grounds” had inconvenienced voters and overloaded field staff. Following the ECI communication, the Maharashtra CEO instructed EROs last month to summon objectors and thoroughly verify claims before acting.

Samajwadi Party’s Rais Shaikh, the Bhiwandi East MLA, said the constituency’s electoral roll had 376,000 electors before the SIR began earlier this year. The constituency, which has a predominantly Muslim population, now has 1.84 lakh electors in the draft list, with 23,000 names deleted on grounds of duplication and death. Another 42,430 electors have been flagged for discrepancies or remain unmapped with their 2002 SIR records.

Shaikh alleged that agents of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party filed bulk objections to suppress minority turnout and withdrew them only when faced with police action. Shaikh pointed to a November 2025 rule change that allowed BLAs to file objections against anyone in the constituency, not just one polling station.

This was used by BJP agents to file objections in bulk targeting SP’s support base, he alleged, adding that they had now started withdrawing their applications in the face of action for false complaints.

Avantika Lekurwale, Congress BLA from Kamathi constituency in Vidarbha, where allegations of inclusion of bogus voters during assembly elections were levelled said, “Where the BLAs from opposition parties are alert, Form 7 are not filled in large number. The deletion generally take place just ahead of the general elections.”

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Atul Deulgaonkar, who is overseeing the SIR process for the party, rejected the SP and Congress allegations. “It is not true that electors belonging to opposition parties are being targeted. Anyone with credible information about an incorrect registration has the right to file Form 7. Whether the information is correct or incorrect has to be determined by the authorised government officer, and there is no question of an incorrect decision being taken,” he said.