New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to examine allegations of irregularities in the submission of Form 7 applications seeking deletion of voters’ names from electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana asked the petitioners to furnish details of cases where alleged irregularities had not been addressed and directed the poll panel to examine the complaints, take necessary corrective measures and submit an action-taken report.
During the hearing, the petitioners alleged that a large number of Form 7 applications had been submitted in Uttar Pradesh with the intention of removing voters belonging to a particular community from the electoral rolls. Referring to action taken in similar matters in Telangana and Karnataka, the petitioners argued that directions for registration of FIRs had been issued in those states, whereas the absence of effective action in Uttar Pradesh had emboldened those responsible for submitting such applications.
Appearing for the ECI, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu submitted that although a large number of Form 7 applications had been received, scrutiny by the authorities had revealed irregularities in them and no voter’s name was deleted on the basis of such forms. He added that the complaints had been examined by the concerned officials through checks and cross-verification, following which certain allegations were found to be false.
The senior counsel further submitted that wherever the allegations were supported by material, the concerned parties could lodge formal complaints for the ECI to examine and take appropriate action.
After hearing the submission, the Supreme Court observed that the poll panel should scrutinise the relevant material and take appropriate action wherever irregularities were established.
The proceedings come amid allegations surrounding the SIR exercise in Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, the office of the state’s Chief Electoral Officer had rejected claims that 85,854 Form 7 applications were automatically generated by the ECI’s ERONET software without specifying reasons for deletion of voters’ names.
The CEO’s office had maintained that notices, hearings, scrutiny and recorded orders preceded any deletion action, dismissing the allegations as misleading.
(IANS)
