Supreme Court to ECI on 'False' Form 7 Objections: Look Into These Issues, File Compliance Report

The Election Commission of India (ECI) told the Supreme Court on Friday that it had come across "false" Form 7 applications — the form used to object to the inclusion of a name in the electoral roll — during the Uttar Pradesh Special Intensive Revision (SIR), but that none of them were accepted.

Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, for the ECI, said corrective measures were taken promptly when such false forms were discovered, and that authorities had rejected Form 7 applications filed in violation of the norms.

The ECI was responding to allegations made in a petition filed by Congress's Barabanki MP Tanuj Punia, represented by senior advocate Salman Khusheed and advocate Shariq Ahmed, about alleged widespread misuse and fraud in the bulk filing of Form 7 during the claims-and-objections phase of the Uttar Pradesh SIR.

Mr. Ahmed questioned the Commission's claim that false Form 7s were stopped at the entry point itself, and argued that the court must subject that claim to judicial scrutiny. He submitted that it was precisely the absence of corrective measures in the Uttar Pradesh SIR that had "emboldened" the bulk filing of Form 7s in Karnataka and Telangana.

Referring to the Hata Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh, the counsel submitted that of the 32 Form 7s filed there, two were signed by the booth-level officer, and that all of them pertained to the deletion of voters belonging to one community. The Bench asked Mr. Ahmed to submit a note setting out the details and any additional information on the issue.

"Let the ECI look into these issues, take necessary action and file a compliance report," the court observed.

The Uttar Pradesh SIR process concluded in April, with the final electoral roll reportedly showing an increase of about 84 lakh voters, taking the electorate to 13.39 crore. Over two crore voters were removed during the revision.

Mr. Khusheed and Mr. Ahmed pointed out that the issue raised in the Barabanki MP's application needed to be taken up without further delay, since the process for the State Assembly elections may begin as early as December 2026 or in early January next year.

Mr. Punia's plea states that "numerous" Form 7 applications were generated and submitted with incomplete or false particulars of the objector, invalid identifying details, forged signatures and, in several instances, in the names of persons who later denied having filed any such objection. It also alleges that booth-level officers (BLOs) received pre-filled Form 7 applications seeking the deletion of multiple electors, including persons already verified during the SIR process.

The MP said these instances had raised "serious apprehensions regarding the integrity of the objection mechanism". He has sought penal action under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and other applicable provisions, against persons found to have made false declarations, filed fraudulent objections, impersonated objectors, or otherwise misused the Form 7 mechanism to secure wrongful deletions from the electoral rolls.

The submissions in court echo an affidavit filed by the Election Commission in September, in which it referred to several reports from electoral officials on the ground about attempts to submit Form 7 applications in bulk to BLOs. One such instance was in the Hata Assembly constituency, where a person identified only as "Yogendra" is said to have left 32 Form 7s on the BLO's table; the man remains untraceable, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit also referred to a report from the Electoral Registration Officer of Khalilabad about an attempt to submit Form 7s in bulk to a BLO, which, the ECI said, were not accepted owing to their bulk quantity. The Commission said the incident prompted it to direct BLOs categorically not to digitise any form without proper checking, and not to accept Form 7s in bulk.