Election Commission officials in Karnataka have said the electoral system auto generated 61,059 Form 7 applications bearing the digital signatures of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) when voters could not be reached during hearings on notices issued over unmapped records or logical discrepancies.
“These applications appear to have been generated as part of the verification process for voters whose records could not be mapped or who had discrepancies in their details. When the field verification process could not establish contact with a voter, the case may have been escalated through the system, which generated a form 7 without citing reasons,” the official said. Karnataka chief electoral officer V Anbukkumar has previously said that filing a Form 7 application does not automatically result in a voter’s name being deleted.
The officers, listed as the objectors in the applications, said the forms were generated during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, with the voters concerned marked as “ineligible” after they could not be contacted during the hearings. The applications appeared to have been generated in cases where voters’ details could not be mapped to the previous electoral roll or showed logical discrepancies, according to an official familiar with the process. The official said a discrepancy in the records or an unsuccessful attempt to contact a voter should not be treated as proof that the person was ineligible to remain on the electoral roll. “The important distinction is between a case being flagged for further verification and a formal application seeking deletion of a voter’s name.,” the official said.
