Supreme Court seeks report from ECI on Form 7 misuse allegations

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Updated - October 30, 2026 09:20 pm IST - NEW DELHI

The Uttar Pradesh SIR process ended in April with the final voter list showing a reported 84 lakh increase in the electorate to 13.39 crore. Over two crore voters were removed after the revision. File | Photo Credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J

The Election Commission of India (EC) told the Supreme Court on Friday (October 30, 2026) that though it found “false” Form 7s for deletion of voters during the Uttar Pradesh Special Intensive Revision (SIR), none of them were accepted.

Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, for the ECI, said corrective measures were taken promptly on discovery of such “false” forms. Authorities had rejected Form 7s filed in violation of norms, the ECI said.

The ECI was responding to allegations levelled in a petition filed by Congress’ Barabanki MP Tanuj Punia, represented by senior advocate Salman Khusheed and advocate Shariq Ahmed, about widespread misuse and fraud in connection with bulk filing of Form 7 during the claims-and-objections phase of the Uttar Pradesh SIR.

Mr. Ahmed questioned the ECI’s claim that false Form 7s were stopped at the gates. He said the court must subject this claim to judicial scrutiny. The counsel argued that it was exactly the lack of any corrective measures in the Uttar Pradesh SIR that “emboldened” the filing of bulk Form 7s in Karnataka and Telangana.

“Of the 32 Form 7s in the Hata Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh, two were signed by the booth-level officer. All these forms pertained to deletion of voters belonging to one community,” the counsel submitted. The court asked Mr. Ahmed to submit a note with details and additional information, if any, on the issue.

“Let the ECI look into these issues, take necessary action and file a compliance report,” the court observed.

The Uttar Pradesh SIR process ended in April with the final voter list showing a reported 84 lakh increase in the electorate to 13.39 crore. Over two crore voters were removed after the revision.

Mr. Khusheed and Mr. Ahmed pointed out that the issue raised in the Barabanki MP’s application needed to be taken up without any further delay as the process for State Assembly elections may commence as early as in December 2026 or early January next year.

Mr. Punia’s plea detailed that “numerous” Form 7 applications were generated and submitted with incomplete or false particulars of the objector, invalid identifying details, forged signatures, and, in several instances, in the names of persons who had subsequently denied filing any such objections. It also alleged that booth-level officers (BLOs) received pre-filled Form 7 applications seeking deletion of multiple electors, including electors who had already been verified during the SIR process.

The Barabanki MP said these instances had raised “serious apprehensions regarding the integrity of the objection mechanism”. He has sought initiation of penal action under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and other applicable provisions of law, against persons found to have made false declarations, filed fraudulent objections, impersonated objectors, or otherwise misused the Form 7 mechanism to procure wrongful deletions from the electoral rolls.

The submissions by Mr. Naidu in the Supreme Court echo an affidavit filed by the Election Commission in September, in which it referred to multiple reports received from electoral officials on the ground about attempts to submit Form 7 in bulk to BLOs.

These included the instance in Hata Assembly constituency, when a person only identified as ‘Yogendra’ “involuntarily” left on the table of the BLO Form 7s to delete 32 voters. The man, ‘Yogendra’, remains untraceable.

Again, the ECI affidavit said a report from the Electoral Registration Officer of Khalilabad narrated an attempt to submit F7s in bulk to the BLO. “However, owing to its bulk quantity, the forms were not accepted,” the ECI said. The poll body said the incident prompted it to “categorically direct” BLOs not to digitise any Form without proper checking, and not to accept Form 7s in bulk.

The affidavit said media reports led to an inquiry in Sakaldiha, where officials unearthed false Form 7s which were neither issued by the BLO concerned nor filed as per procedure.

Form 7s for deletion of voter names are obtained from the District Election Officers, Voter Registration Centres, BLOs or the voter service portal. An applicant has to submit Form 7, duly filled and signed, with EPIC and phone number, either personally to the BLO or online.

The affidavit said Form 7s were also found inside “envelopes at the residences of certain BLOs”. “Upon due enquiry, the persons in whose names the Form 7s were purportedly filed, denied submitting them. They further stated that the Forms were false,” the ECI said.

Published - October 30, 2026 09:19 pm IST

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