Hyderabad, Oct 6 (IANS) Voicing concern over misuse of Form 7 during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday alleged that there is a deep conspiracy to delete Muslim voters through fraudulent and bulk submission of applications under it.
The Hyderabad MP complained to the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer, C. Sudharsan Reddy, regarding misuse of Form 7 for targeted deletion of Muslim voters in Goshamahal Assembly constituency in Hyderabad.
He brought to the notice of the CEO that the Goshamahal Assembly constituency, which falls under his parliamentary constituency, has witnessed the apparent misuse of Form 7 applications in a manner that specifically targets Muslim voters.
In a letter to the CEO, Owaisi complained that at polling station number 28, Thudumu Janardhan submitted 122 Form 7 applications. In these forms, the names of the voters against whom deletion is sought are pre-printed, while the applicant has written his own name and contact number as the person filing the Form 7, 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 noted.
The MP said at polling station number 173, around 30 Form 7 applications were submitted to the Booth Level Officer (BLO). These forms do not mention the name of the applicant, whereas the names of the voters against whom the forms are filed are pre-printed. He thanked both BLOs for not accepting the forms.
He, however, urged the CEO to initiate action against the persons involved for action under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
Owaisi cited the instructions given by the CEO to all EROs to take action as per Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 against applicants who make false statements.
Addressing media persons at AIMIM headquarters Darussalam, Owaisi said 122 names included in the Form 7 application were all in the voter lists of 2022, 2026 and the draft rolls published recently. Some of them were issued notice for anomalies, and they attended the hearing.
“All 122 voters are Muslims. Who is filing Form 7 applications? Why this hatred against Muslims?” he said.
Owaisi said for the last couple of months, a help desk was functioning from his party headquarters located in Goshamahal constituency to help voters, irrespective of their religion and caste.
The MP said that due to the honesty of the BLOs and alertness of Booth Level Agents (BLAs), they could foil the attempts in Goshamahal but expressed the apprehension of similar misuse of Form 7 going unnoticed in other parts of Telangana.
He demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) take serious action against those trying to target members of one community with the false Form 7 applications.
Asked about INDIA bloc MPs’ protest march to ECI office in Delhi, Owaisi said he did not go there because he was not part of the alliance.
The MP, however, reiterated that the process for the selection of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is wrong. “It is completely in favour of the executive. This needs to be changed,” he said while demanding an amendment in the relevant law to restore the earlier system of selecting CEC by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India.
Owaisi also reiterated that SIR is wrong. He remarked that SIR is an NRC through the backdoor.
–IANS
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