Pune: Civil rights activists on Tuesday demanded minute scrutiny of all 25,661 Form 7 applications submitted between Aug 31 and Oct 11 seeking deletion of names from the draft electoral roll.Activist Ulka Mahajan raised concerns about field-level verification and said every application should be double-checked. She pointed to instances of booth-level officers not reaching voters’ homes as expected. “Applications for deletions have to be thoroughly checked in the wake of mass deletion cases in other states,” she told TOI.The maximum number of Form 7 applications — 2,173 — was filed in Thane seeking deletion of names, followed by Ahmednagar (1,551), Mumbai City (1,455), Mumbai Suburban (1,319) and Jalgaon (1,246). The five districts together accounted for 7,744 applications, about 30% of the state.The claims-and-objections period for Maharashtra’s draft electoral roll has been extended to Oct 26. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on Nov 16.The demand for a thorough check of applications seeking deletion of voters’ names followed Election Commission of India (ECI)’s cap on Form 7 submissions at 10 per individual during the claims-and-objections period, covering both online and physical applications. The Oct 9 directive limits submissions to five per person per month during the continuous update of electoral rolls.Activists said the numerical cap alone would not protect genuine voters and demanded verification of every objection before a name was deleted. They also sought an assembly constituency-wise breakup to establish where the applications originated.R Rao, closely following the claims-and-objections phase of the SIR (special intensive revision) exercise in all states, said details of assembly-wise and even polling booth-wise data should be shared. “Micro details bring transparency. The assembly constituency-wise applications should be put up on the chief electoral officer’s website or shared on social media,” he said.The district-wise data available with the state election office does not provide a constituency-wise breakdown of applications. “So, the figures do not establish if voters in any particular constituency were disproportionately targeted,” Rao said.Under ECI instructions, electoral registration officers must examine objections under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Only a person whose name is on the electoral roll of the constituency concerned can file a Form 7 objection. Officials must verify details and genuineness of applications. Action can be initiated against false or fabricated objections.
