The EC amended Form-7 to allow any voter in a constituency to object, widening its ambit. Now, with allegations of thousands of fake forms targeting specific groups, the mechanism is itself under intense scrutiny.

The Election Commission’s campaigns for voter awareness, when highlighting the significance of Form-7, speak of the need to fill up and submit the form to the concerned election authorities when either getting the name of a deceased family member deleted from the electoral rolls or seeking to remove from the voters’ list the name of a neighbour or a relative who has shifted residence to a new constituency.

Form-7, however, is now not being viewed in such a benign way. Against the backdrop of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in nine States and three Union Territories, as also the Special Revision in Assam, it is no longer seen as a facility whose purpose is limited to one’s family or vicinity. Allegations are flying thick and fast that the form has been weaponised by the ruling BJP to undertake mass deletion of electors.

On January 29, All India Congress Committee General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal wrote to the Election Commission flagging “serious and grave concerns” over what he described as a blatant misuse of Form-7 during the claims and objections phase of the SIR. Venugopal claimed that Form-7 was being misused to carry out “mass scale, targeted exclusion of eligible voters’ names” from the electoral roll.

“Analysis of the reports shared from different states indicated a peculiar pattern of objections being raised against specific, targeted groups of electors across multiple States. These complaints were first reported from the State of Rajasthan and have since emerged from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, and Kerala, indicating that the issue is neither localised nor isolated,” Venugopal wrote.

Venugopal also alleged that many of these forms lacked mandatory details of the objector, contained invalid mobile numbers or EPIC details, and in several cases, the names of individuals who had publicly denied filing any such objections. He also claimed that in some instances, Booth Level Agents (BLAs) affiliated with the BJP or even complete strangers have been named as objectors, while in Assam, there have been reports of ruling party members illegally attempting to access election databases to delete voters’ names.

What is Form-7?

Form-7 has to be filled out when applying to object to the inclusion of the name of another person, or seeking deletion of one’s own name or seeking deletion of any other person’s name in the electoral rolls owing to death or shifting.

The applicant has to sign a declaration at the end of the form stating that the facts and particulars mentioned in the form are true, and that he or she is aware that making a statement or declaration that is false is punishable under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

The application can be made by an elector registered in the same constituency, and the onus of proof to substantiate the reason given for objection or removal of a name lies with the applicant.

In 2022, the guidelines with regard to filling up and submission of Form-7 were amended to allow any voter from a constituency to apply for deletion of a name in the electoral rolls of the same constituency. Earlier, the objector had to be in the same part of the electoral rolls as the person whose name was sought to be deleted. This amendment resulted in the widening of the ambit of the source of pleas for deletion of names.

Also, after the modifications brought about by the Commission in the criteria for appointment of BLAs on November 11, 2025, the BLA, who was earlier required to be a registered voter in the same polling station which he or she was made in charge of, can now be from a different polling booth in the same Assembly constituency. As BLAs can file objections using Form-7, the change in the criteria for their appointment has also opened up the possibility of a more non-local use of the form.

Form-7 has been in focus in recent elections, with opposition parties accusing the BJP of having misused it to manipulate voters’ lists and affect the electoral outcome. In September 2025, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had, in a press conference, alleged that a centralised system was used by the BJP to delete the names of thousands of voters in Aland constituency in Karnataka, using Form-7. The Election Commission subsequently clarified that of the 6,018 Form-7 applications received in Aland, only 24 were found to be genuine while the rest were rejected. An FIR was registered in February 2023 based on findings by the Electoral Registration Officer.

In the ongoing SIR, opposition parties have alleged that there is rampant misuse of Form-7 to delete voters’ names in a targeted manner so as to give the BJP an undue advantage.

High-profile targets

Some glaring examples have been highlighted by the opposition parties, such as the filing of Form-7 to seek the deletion from the voters’ list of Padma Shri awardees Shahabuddin Rathod, a Gujarati humourist and scholar, and Haji Ramakdu (also known as Mir Hajibhai Kasambhai), a folk musician from Junagadh, in Gujarat. Haji Ramakdu was announced as a Padma Shri 2026 recipient on the eve of Republic Day.

Rajasthan State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra claimed that thousands of fake computerised forms were printed and distributed in every constituency in the State. “BJP MLAs, Ministers, and other party leaders submitted thousands of forms with forged BLO [Booth Level Officer]signatures to every Sub-Divisional Magistrate. In my own constituency, 627 forms were submitted, and when they tried to submit another 2,000 forms, the SDM [Sub-Divisional Magistrate] refused to accept them,” Dotasra said.

The political uproar over Form-7 is most pronounced in election-bound West Bengal and Assam. In West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress and its closest rival, the BJP, have been engaged in a war of words. Ground-level functionaries of the two parties have clashed and been involved in violent incidents over the issue of deletions using Form-7.

On January 13, Trinamool Congress workers intercepted in Bankura district an SUV carrying BJP workers who were allegedly in possession of thousands of pre-filled Form-7. The BJP, however, said the forms were gathered by the party’s BLAs after they could not submit the same to the BLOs and they were to be submitted to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).

Incidents of violence have taken place over Form-7 in the State. Clashes erupted between the workers of the two parties in Murshidabad on January 19 over the alleged attempt by BJP workers to file a large number of Form-7 applications. The BJP in West Bengal has alleged that election officials refused to accept Form-7 applications and sought the intervention of the Election Commission of India.

After the Bankura incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: “In several areas, BLOs, EROs, DMs [District Magistrates] and SDO [Sub-Divisional Officer] offices received bulk lists, up to 10,000 names in some cases, for deletion. This is illegal. They were caught in Khatra [in Bankura]. One BLA can object to only seven names under the election rules. How can 9,000-10,000 names be submitted?”

The Assam controversy

In neighbouring Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s call to BJP workers to file Form-7 in bulk to remove the names of “Miyas” (Bengali-speaking Muslims alleged to be of Bangladeshi origin) is being described by the opposition parties as clear evidence of the alleged misuse of the form to carry out a large-scale deletion of voters in the State.

On January 28, Sarma said in Guwahati: “There are Bangladeshi ‘Miyas’ in Assam. Has anybody got notice in Thowra or Dimou? No one has got any notice. If Bangladeshi ‘Miyas’ do not get notice in SR [Special Revision], then what it will mean is that there are no foreigners in Assam. That is why, BJP workers have filed complaints against people who they have suspected to be foreigners.”

Assam Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia has written a letter to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, urging him to take suo motu cognisance of the alleged misuse of Form-7 in Assam. Saikia wrote that the media briefings and categorical statements of Sarma were an open admission of the BJP targeting through the SR one particular community. This, he said, was an “unprecedented admission of intent to interfere with the electorate on communal lines”.

He said this was an open confession that the SR and Form-7 are being employed as instruments of intimidation, harassment, and targeted disenfranchisement of a particular community, directly undermining the independence of the Election Commission.

“The present misuse of Form-7, which is meant only for genuine and limited objections, has converted a regulatory mechanism into a weapon of mass voter suppression,” Saikia said.

Tight timelines

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner on January 23, pointing out what she said was an unusually high number of objections filed in various constituencies. She said objections were filed in bulk after publication of the draft electoral rolls on December 27, 2025, and there was not enough time available to give a fair hearing to all the affected voters. The objection window closed on January 22, 2026, and hearings began on February 2, with the final electoral rolls due on February 10.

Maj. Gen. Anil Verma (Retd.), head of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), said the Commission must proactively take action against fraudulent Form-7 applications to curb their misuse. He also said that at present the Commission appears to be looking the other way even as it is evident that Form-7 is being misused.

Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act deals with false declarations made in connection with the preparation, revision, or correction of an electoral roll, or the inclusion or exclusion of any entry in or from an electoral roll. It states that a statement or declaration in writing that is false and that the objector either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term that may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Verma said that as per the feedback received from the ADR team in Gujarat, as a result of civil society activists approaching the people whose names had been used to file Form-7 applications, the number of the pleas has come down.

“In many of these cases, Form-7 was filled up by workers of political parties in the name of people who were not even aware of it. People have started withdrawing the forms by filing affidavits,” Verma said.

“Also, a large number of instances have been found where the person whose inclusion has been objected to is a bona fide voter who has been living at that particular address for years,” he said.

The Commission’s response

In the wake of the swirling controversy over Form-7, the Election Commission has clarified that there is no limit on the number of forms a voter can submit in a constituency. However, in order to prevent misuse of the facility, if more than five objections are filed by an individual, the ERO will mandatorily verify the claims.

The opposition parties are not satisfied with the Commission’s reassurance. The Congress has demanded that the Commission should take immediate corrective steps, which include strict vigilance and real-time supervision of voter deletions, the framing and enforcement of clear and stringent guidelines for Form-7 scrutiny, and the initiation of investigations under Article 324 of the Constitution. The party has also demanded that complete, disaggregated data on Form-7 applications across all 12 States and Union Territories where SIR is being conducted should be placed in the public domain.