Owaisi alleges Form 7 bid to delete Muslim voters' names, BJP asks him to produce evidence
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has alleged that BJP activists were attempting to get Muslim voters' names deleted from electoral rolls by submitting Form 7 during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), warning of protests in Hyderabad if the alleged practice was not stopped.
The Telangana BJP, however, rejected the allegations and asked Owaisi to produce evidence before the appropriate authorities instead of making political statements against the Election Commission.
Addressing a gathering late on Saturday, Owaisi urged the Election Commission and Telangana Chief Electoral Officer to scrutinise every Form 7 application seeking deletion of names from electoral rolls.
Form 7 is used to file an objection to the proposed inclusion or deletion of a name in an existing electoral roll.
Owaisi claimed that the identity of the person submitting the Form 7 applications was not being disclosed and alleged that BJP and Sangh Parivar workers were seeking deletion of names of Muslim voters.
He specifically alleged that a BJP Booth Level Agent (BLA) in Musheerabad had submitted an application seeking removal of Muslim voters' names.
The Hyderabad MP said Electoral Registration Officers should verify who had filed such applications and take action if false Form 7 requests were submitted.
"If this drama does not stop," Owaisi warned, there would be protests in Hyderabad larger than those witnessed at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and in Mumbai.
He alleged that the SIR exercise was aimed at deleting names, raising questions about citizenship and eventually making people stand in queues if a National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise was undertaken.
Owaisi also questioned criticism of voters having large families, saying he himself has six children. He referred to statements by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and RSS leader Sunil Ambekar in the context of the NRC.
Rejecting allegations that AIMIM wins elections through bogus votes, Owaisi said the party wins through "love".
He also raised concerns over murders in Hyderabad, alleging that wealthy accused were able to secure bail by spending large amounts of money. He further alleged that a Hyderabad jail superintendent had allowed a meeting involving murder accused inside the prison.
Responding to the Form 7 allegations, Telangana BJP chief spokesperson N V Subash said Owaisi, being a person with a legal background, should know that allegations against a constitutional authority could not be established through public statements alone.
"If Owaisi has concrete evidence of electoral malpractice, what is stopping him from approaching the appropriate judicial forum?" Subash asked.
He said electoral-roll allegations should be subjected to scrutiny through the legal process and that political statements could not substitute for evidence.
"If Owaisi has evidence, let him produce it. If he has a grievance, let him pursue the remedy provided by law," Subash said.
