Nearly 70% of Form 7 cases disposed: ECI data

Nearly 70 per cent of “objections” filed under Form 7 to delete names from Delhi’s electoral rolls have been disposed of as the SIR exercise in the National Capital nears its final phase, according to official data. According to the latest constituency-wise report of the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO), of the 67,709 Form 7 applications filed between August 31 and October 21 to object to the inclusion of a name in the electoral roll or seek its deletion, as many as 47,105 have been disposed of.

The data shows that officials have disposed of 1,07,451 (23.3 per cent) of the 4,59,796 Form 6 applications filed by citizens seeking enrolment as voters, including first-time voters and those whose names are missing from the draft roll.

Officials, however, clarified that disposal does not necessarily mean an application has been accepted, as claims and objections are decided on the basis of the details and documents submitted by applicants. The outcome of these applications will be reflected in the final electoral roll, they said.

Data showed that of the 67,709 Form 7 applications received by October 21, 51,471 were filed up to August 30 and 16,238 between August 31 and October 21.

Amongst Assembly constituencies, South East Delhi recorded the highest number of Form 7 applications, at 16,193. The district includes constituencies with a significant Muslim population, such as Okhla, where the poll body could verify the details for only 54.6 per cent of existing electors in the draft rolls published on August 31, one of the lowest verification rates among Delhi’s Assembly constituencies.

The draft electoral roll published on August 31 listed 97.53 lakh electors, down from 1.45 crore before the SIR exercise, with around 47.5 lakh names excluded. Those whose names were missing from the draft roll could apply for inclusion through Form 6.

Meanwhile, the CEO’s office received 4,59,796 Form 6 applications seeking enrolment as voters by October 21: 2,12,400 were filed up to August 30, and 2,47,396 between August 31 and October 21. The CEO’s office also received 3,54,896 Form 8 applications for corrections to electoral entries and changes of residential address.

Of these, 2,60,768 were filed up to August 30 and 94,128 between August 31 and October 21. A total of 1,70,233 applications, or 47.97 per cent, have been disposed of.

The revision has involved checking existing voter entries against previous electoral rolls. Officials issued around 33.12 lakh notices to electors whose details could not be matched with the 2002 SIR details or were flagged for “logical discrepancies”, including inconsistencies in personal details.

Officials said earlier that more than 80 per cent of these cases had been resolved. The deadline for filing claims and objections is October 30. The election authorities will focus on disposing of pending applications and notices from October 31 to November 30, ahead of the publication of the final electoral roll on December 4.