Delhi CEO restricts filing of Form 7 objections per voter

New Delhi: The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar on Friday prescribed reasonable limits on filing of Form-7 applications by an individual voter to avoid inconvenience to the voter objected upon and increased workload on field-level functionaries.

The CEO office said in a statement that instances have been brought to the notice of the Commission of filing of Form-7 objections in bulk by individual voters on unsubstantiated grounds.

Accordingly, the Commission with the intent to discourage bulk filing of objections by an individual voter has decided to prescribe limits on filing of Form-7 applications in both online and offline mode.

A maximum number of 10 Form-7 applications during the entire period of claims and objections can be filed by an individual voter, it said.

Also, the maximum number of Form-7 applications during the period of continuous updation of electoral rolls by an individual voter has been fixed at five per month, the statement said.

The CEO cautioned that false complaints will face legal action.

The statement said, “It may also be ensured that in case the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) finds that the complaint is false/fabricated, he shall proceed to take action against the applicant who has knowingly made false statement or declaration in writing in the Form-7 as per the provisions of Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.”

The statement added that as per Rule 13(2) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, every objection to the proposed inclusion of a name or application for deletion of a name in the electoral roll of a constituency shall be in Form-7 and preferred only by a person whose name is already included in the roll of that constituency.

“Disposal of Form-7 applications requires examination by the ERO in accordance with the provisions of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960,” it said.

“For the SIR period, the Commission has already allowed Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of the recognised political parties to file applications in bulk, subject to the condition that the BLA shall not submit more than 50 forms per day to the Booth Level Officer before the draft publication and 10 forms per day thereafter,” it added.

The CEO office said for an individual voter of a constituency, the filing of applications is as per para 11.3.2(ii) of the Manual on Electoral Rolls, 2023, which provides that claims and objections presented in bulk including those sent by post, by an individual should not be entertained.

It said the provisions also provide for personal cross-verification by the ERO where the same person is the objector in more than five cases.

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