EC caps Form 7 filings: No more than 10 voter-deletion requests per person during roll revisions

PTC Web Desk: The Election Commission has put a ceiling on how many Form 7 applications a single person can submit, a step aimed at stopping the bulk filing of requests to delete names from the voter list.

Form 7 is the statutory form used to object to a name on the electoral roll or to seek its removal. The poll body said it had come across “instances” of mass filings that caused “avoidable inconvenience” to electors. The decision also follows criticism of the Commission over reports of targeted, bulk submissions of such forms.

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In its instructions to the Chief Electoral Officers of all states and Union Territories, the EC pointed out that, under Rule 13(2) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, any objection to a name’s inclusion or any request for deletion has to be made through Form 7. Only an elector registered in the same Assembly constituency can file it.

Until now, the Commission had limited online Form 7 filings to six per person at a time, depending on the disposal of pending applications. Forms handed in physically to Electoral Registration Officers, however, had no such cap.

“With the intent to discourage bulk filing of objections by an individual elector, the commission has decided to prescribe limits on filing of Form 7 applications in both online and offline modes,” the EC said.

Under the revised norms, one person can file a maximum of 10 Form 7 applications, online or offline, during the claims and objections period. This window generally runs for about a month after the draft electoral roll is published during revision exercises such as the Special Summary Revision (SSR) or the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

When no revision is underway and rolls are being updated on a continuous basis, the limit is five Form 7 applications per person per month.