MP Congress alleges ‘conspiracy’ in voter roll revision, submits complaint to CEO

Bhopal, Jan 22 (IANS) As the process of filing claims and objections under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is concluding in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, the Congress levelled serious allegations, claiming that pre-printed Form 7 applications were used to delete voters’ names without due verification. 

Veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath alleged that Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by the ruling BJP had submitted pre-filled Form 7 applications through a centralised system to remove names of genuine voters from the electoral rolls.

“These Form 7 applications already contain the details of actual voters, but there is no clear mention of the person who raised the objection. This is a pre-planned conspiracy to steal votes. Congress workers on the ground are firmly countering this,” Kamal Nath said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), led by state unit president Jitu Patwari, visited the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and submitted a memorandum highlighting alleged discrepancies in the SIR exercise.

According to the Election Commission, electoral officers had received around 7.17 lakh applications for inclusion of names and about 83,000 applications for exclusion till Wednesday evening.

The controversy follows the publication of draft electoral rolls on December 23, which indicated that over 42 lakh voters across 55 districts in Madhya Pradesh were likely to be deleted.

Election officials, however, clarified that the deletions are not final and that eligible voters still have a window to restore their names.

Voters whose names are missing from the draft rolls can apply for inclusion by submitting Form 6, either online through the Election Commission portal or offline with the Booth Level Officer (BLO) or Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).

Those who believe their names were wrongly deleted during the SIR can seek restoration by filing objections along with supporting documents such as Aadhaar, voter ID, ration card or proof of residence. The law also permits objections against wrongful inclusions -- such as duplicate, deceased, or shifted voters -- through Form 7.

--IANS

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