Marked ‘dead’ by BJP BLAs, Delhi voters found alive at homes

New Delhi: As many as 28 Muslim residents in Delhi’s Mustafabad constituency were marked as dead or permanently shifted using Form 7 applications despite living in the locality for years, The Hindu said.

Sajid Hussain has lived in the Dayalpur neighbourhood of the north-east Mustafabad constituency for over twenty years and was troubled to learn that an unfamiliar individual had filed Form 7 applications seeking to delete his wife’s and son’s names from the electoral roll.

Hussain’s wife Afsana Khatoon and son Asad Raza Zaidi were two of the 28 voters against whom Form 7 applications were filed, citing “absent, permanently shifted or death” as the reason. At least 19 of them had valid identity documents as proof and were found to be residing at their addresses.

According to The Hindu, the Election Commission of India’s records show that Bharatiya Janata Party-appointed Booth-Level Agent (BLA)-2 Chandra Shekhar Nainwal filed all 28 forms.

Those voters had all filed enumeration forms, were included in the draft electoral roll, and claimed they never heard Nainwal’s name.

Since Sept, 843 Form 7s filed in Mustafabad

The BJP agent’s applications were the only Form 7s filed in the polling booth 129. One was listed on the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s daily objections list on October 19, nine on October 21, and 18 on October 25.

Since August 31, the Mustafabad constituency has received 843 objections. While 597 were filed by third parties, 96 per cent named BJP BLAs as the ‘objectors’, of which 572 were against Muslim voters across 24 parts of the constituency.

Beside Hussain’s house, the names of Abdul Jabbar’s daughter Ayesha and 22-year-old son Mohammed Huzefa were also sought to be deleted. Huzefa said their long-time neighbour, Ummed Ali, who runs a small grocery store, was also featured on the deletion list.

Across the constituency, the pattern repeated, the report said. Electors’ names were sought to be removed from the voter roll despite them being alive and living at their given addresses.

BLA submissions exceed ECI limit

Currently, 10 BJP BLAs have submitted over 30 forms, and nine have filed more than 25. Such submissions exceed the ECI limit, which restricts an individual elector to a maximum of 10 forms.

Notably, BLA-2s are allowed to submit ‘bulk’ forms, not more than 10 a day, including forms filled by other persons. However, to do so, they must submit a list of such applications and a declaration that they have checked the details. In Mustafabad, the BLAs filled the forms and named themselves as ‘objectors’.

Among those who filed the 572 Form 7s against Muslim electors were Shashi, who submitted 42; Raman, 35; Manoj Kumar, 33; Mohan Madan, 33; Sawar Singh, 32; Raj Kumar, 31; Himanshu, 31; Kapil, 30; Nitin Kumar, 30; Robin Singh Dhama, 30; Neeraj Sharma, 29; and Abhishek Mishra, 28.”

Form 7s given without declaration

Officials told The Hindu that while these objectors were listed as BLAs, no BLA undertakings were ever submitted alongside their forms. One form, filled by hand by Nitin Kumar, neither stated that he was a BLA nor used the format meant for BLAs.

An ECI directive from October 9 states that, in case the ERO finds that the complaint is false or fabricated, he is mandated to proceed with action against the applicant who knowingly made a false statement or declaration in writing in the form as per the Representation of the People Acts.

What kind of a joke is this? Ask voters

Meanwhile, in Dayalpur, Hussain remains baffled. “How can only two members of my family move out? There are eight members in my family, and all of us are registered at this address for decades. What kind of joke is this?”

His wife, Khatoon, said she is constantly at home and gave their forms directly to the booth-level officer (BLO) when she came to their house. “Then someone was also served, for which we gave our documents. Will we have to submit some documents again?” she questioned.

For 76-year-old Zaheer Ali, the Form 7 reason given was “death”. His family member, Shama Parveen, said, “We are being targeted, probably because of our identities. We see no other reason because we don’t know the objector personally.”

Another voter marked for deletion, Salaman Siddique’s brother Suleman, said they have been residing at the current house for three decades and in the locality since their birth. Siddique’s sister Shagufta Khatoon and his brother-in-law Ikhlak were also included in the deletion list.

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