Asaduddin Owaisi claims Form 7 used to delete muslim voters, warns of protest

Asaduddin Owaisi alleged BJP activists were using Form 7 applications to target Muslim voters in Hyderabad. The BJP rejected the charge and challenged him to present evidence before the proper legal authorities.

In Short

• Owaisi asked election officials to scrutinise every Form 7 application carefully
• He alleged submitters' identities were missing from printed deletion requests
• A Musheerabad BJP booth worker was accused of targeting Muslim voters

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has alleged that BJP activists are trying to remove the names of Muslim voters from electoral rolls by submitting Form 7 during SIR, and warned of a protest in Hyderabad stronger than the one at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

Telangana BJP rejected the charge and said that if Owaisi has evidence of irregularities in the electoral process, he should pursue the matter through the legal route instead of making public allegations against the Election Commission.

Addressing a gathering late on Saturday night, Owaisi said the Election Commission and Telangana's Chief Electoral Officer should examine the alleged attempts to delete voters' names through printed Form 7 applications.

He claimed the name of the person submitting the Form 7 was not being provided. Form 7 is used to object to a proposed inclusion or seek deletion of a name from the electoral roll.

"BJP and Sangh Parivar people want to get names deleted by submitting Form 7," Owaisi said. He said the Electoral Registration Officer should examine every Form 7 and find out who is submitting the applications for removal of voters' names.

He claimed that a BJP Booth Level Assistant in Musheerabad in Hyderabad had submitted forms for the removal of Muslim voters, and said the Election Commission should act if false Form 7 applications were filed.

Warning of protests, Owaisi said, "If this drama does not stop, remember, we will do the 'mantar', that was not read at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, on the streets of Hyderabad. Then they will have a big problem. We cannot tolerate all names of genuine voters being deleted through Form 7 just because they are Muslims."

Asking AIMIM workers to ask officials who had submitted Form 7 applications, he said protests "double , triple of whatever happened in Delhi and Mumbai" would take place in Hyderabad.

Owaisi said SIR was a wrong exercise, though he added that the Supreme Court had given a decision in its favour. He also said there should be no problem if a person has six children, adding that he himself has six children.

He further claimed that the purpose of SIR was to remove names, raise questions over citizenship and then make people stand in a queue "when NRC is conducted tomorrow".

He said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had stated that NRC would be conducted, while RSS leader Sunil Ambekar had supported it. Dismissing allegations that AIMIM wins elections through bogus votes, Owaisi said the party wins through love.

He also expressed concern over rising murders in Hyderabad and alleged that rich people involved in such cases were getting bail by spending about Rs 2 crore. It was like a "package" under which "jail to investigating officer are set", he claimed. He further alleged that the superintendent of a jail in Hyderabad had allowed a meeting of murder accused inside the prison.

Responding to Owaisi, BJP Telangana chief spokesperson N V Subash said a person with a legal background should know that serious allegations against a constitutional authority cannot be established through public statements alone.

"If Owaisi has concrete evidence of electoral malpractice, what is stopping him from approaching the appropriate judicial forum. Why make allegations in public and stop there. Let him place the evidence before the competent authorities and seek appropriate legal action," he said.

Subash said there was nothing wrong in seeking scrutiny of the functioning of a constitutional institution in a democracy, but repeatedly casting aspersions on the integrity of the electoral process without producing evidence was a different matter. He said allegations concerning electoral rolls in Hyderabad, including those linked to AIMIM's traditional stronghold, should also face the same scrutiny and legal process.

"If Owaisi has evidence, let him produce it. If he has a grievance, let him pursue the remedy provided by law. But political rhetoric cannot become a substitute for proof, and allegations cannot be allowed to become electoral facts merely by repetition," Subash said.

- Ends