Auto-generated Form 7 applications were generated for around 95,000 voters marked “ineligible” for the final electoral roll in Uttarakhand after they failed their logical discrepancy hearings or didn’t show up, the chief electoral officer said on Thursday.
These auto-generated applications form more than half of the 173,000 Form 7 applications received during the special intensive revision (SIR) in Uttarakhand. The Congress has alleged large-scale irregularities in the Form 7 applications, which are used to seek the deletion of a name from the electoral roll.
A logical discrepancy is a software-generated flag and does not, by itself, establish ineligibility. An objection was filed against our MLA Furkan Ahmed in the name of a person who has the same name as the MLA. However, the person has submitted an affidavit saying he did not file the objection.”
Chief election officer (CEO) BVRC Purshottam said all of the 95,000 voters had logical discrepancy cases. Suryakant Dhasmana, senior vice-president of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee and AICC member, on Thursday raised concerns over what he described as large-scale filings under Form 7 in five assembly constituencies of Udham Singh Nagar district, including Kichha, Gadarpur, Khatima, Nanakmatta and Rudrapur. Manoj Rawat, former Congress MLA and a member of the party delegation that recently met Uttarakhand Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) over the allegations, said, “There has been a grave misuse of Form 7.
Officials have previously said logical discrepancy notices are auto-generated by the Election Commission software, ERONET , for mismatches in names, difference in the age of siblings or between parents and their children, and for parents having more than six children.
The office said the hearing of claims and objections was underway based on the draft roll published on July 14. The final electoral roll will be published on October 3. The last date for claims and objections is September 28.
“When such voters fail to provide the required documents during the hearing or they could not attend the hearing personally or through their family members, such cases, the concerned electoral registration officer (ERO) or assistant electoral registration officer (AERO) marks them as ‘ineligible’ through ECI -Net, following which Form 7 is automatically generated by the system and marked for deletion,” he said.
