Daijiworld Media Network - Hyderabad
Hyderabad, Oct 6: AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday raised concerns over the alleged misuse of Form 7 during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, claiming that fraudulent and bulk submissions were being used as part of a conspiracy to delete Muslim voters.
Owaisi complained to Telangana Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharsan Reddy about the alleged misuse of Form 7 applications to target Muslim voters in the Goshamahal Assembly constituency in Hyderabad.
In a letter to the CEO, he said Goshamahal, which falls under his parliamentary constituency, had witnessed apparent misuse of Form 7 applications in a manner that specifically targeted Muslim voters.
Owaisi said that at polling station number 28, Thudumu Janardhan had submitted 122 Form 7 applications. The names of the voters against whom deletion was sought were pre-printed on the forms, while the applicant had written his own name and contact number as the person submitting the applications, he said.
“Upon enquiry, we found that the person who filed the Form 7 is a sympathiser of the BJP party. This makes it clearly evident that Form 7 is being used to target Muslim voters specifically,” he said.
The MP said around 30 Form 7 applications were submitted to the Booth Level Officer (BLO) at polling station number 173. These forms did not mention the names of the applicants, while the names of the voters against whom the applications were filed were pre-printed.
Owaisi thanked both BLOs for not accepting the forms and urged the CEO to initiate action against those involved under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
He cited instructions issued by the CEO to all Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to take action under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act against applicants making false statements.
Addressing media persons at the AIMIM headquarters in Darussalam, Owaisi said all 122 names mentioned in the Form 7 applications were present in the voter lists of 2022 and 2026 as well as the recently published draft rolls. Some of the voters had been issued notices over anomalies and had attended the hearings, he said.
“All 122 voters are Muslims. Who is filing Form 7 applications? Why this hatred against Muslims?” he asked.
Owaisi said a help desk had been functioning for the past couple of months at his party headquarters in the Goshamahal constituency to assist voters irrespective of their religion or caste.
He said the alleged attempts in Goshamahal were foiled due to the honesty of the BLOs and alertness of Booth Level Agents (BLAs), but expressed apprehension that similar misuse of Form 7 could be going unnoticed in other parts of Telangana.
The AIMIM chief demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) take serious action against those allegedly attempting to target members of a particular community through false Form 7 applications.
Asked about the protest march by INDIA bloc MPs to the ECI office in Delhi, Owaisi said he did not participate as he was not part of the alliance.
He, however, reiterated his opposition to the existing process for selecting the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), calling it “completely in favour of the executive”.
“This needs to be changed,” he said, demanding an amendment to the relevant law to restore the earlier system of selecting the CEC through a panel comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India.
Owaisi also reiterated his opposition to the SIR, describing it as “an NRC through the backdoor”.