New Delhi, 29 January (H.S.): In a pointed escalation of electoral tensions on Thursday, January 29, 2026, the Congress party formally accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of weaponizing Form-7 to illicitly excise names from voter rolls, demanding the Election Commission of India's (ECI) immediate intervention through a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner.
The missive asserted that this malfeasance predominantly targets Dalits, tribals, minorities, and senior citizens above 60 years of age, occurring amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls during the critical claims and objections phase across 12 states.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, in his official correspondence to the Chief Election Commissioner, charged that BJP operatives are mass-submitting pre-printed Form-7s to Booth Level Officers (BLOs), many bereft of clear objector's names, signatures, mobile numbers, or EPIC details—or entirely fabricated.
Upon verification, numerous purported signatories vehemently denied ever filing such forms; some were unmasked as BJP booth-level agents, others complete strangers.
Venugopal traced this pernicious pattern's genesis to Rajasthan, now proliferating across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam—where conditions are reportedly most acute—and Kerala. Without swift curtailment, he warned, millions of marginalized voters risk disenfranchisement, tilting the scales in BJP's favor.
He implored the ECI to vigilantly oversee the voter deletion process, promulgate stringent guidelines on Form-7 usage, initiate an inquiry under Article 324, prosecute culprits, and publicly disclose all Form-7 data from the 12 states to uphold democratic integrity.
---------------
Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
