The finding of applications through Form 7 to remove seven individuals from the electoral roll during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process has prompted A. K. M. Ashraf, a leader of the Indian Union Muslim League and MLA from Manjeshwar, to allege a mass removal of Muslim votes from the list by officials acting in connivance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala’s Kasaragod district.
Appearing before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) on Friday, along with those he claimed had been targeted through a false complaint filed by the BJP, Ashraf contended that the developments were not isolated procedural steps but part of a deliberate attempt to manipulate the electoral roll in the constituency, which he represents in the Kerala Assembly, Maktoob media reported.
He alleged that after losing the last election by a slender margin of around 1,000 votes, the BJP had sought to engineer deletions during the SIR process, and that irregularities had begun to surface in the course of the revision.
Referring specifically to Booth No. 128 in Manjeshwar, Ashraf stated that the Assistant Returning Officer had informed him that BJP district secretary Lokesh Londa had approached the office to remove 90 applications, and that he had been advised that such requests must be made only online through Form 7, which is the prescribed format for seeking deletion of voters’ names.
He further alleged that seven individuals were subsequently issued Form 7 notices for the removal of their names, and that he had personally accompanied them to the authorities to contest the action.
According to Ashraf, one among them, Mohammed, who he said had been born and brought up in the constituency and had voted there for years, was now being described as “not an Indian citizen,” while the other six had been marked as having permanently shifted residence.
Questioning the basis of these determinations, he alleged the existence of an “undercurrent” between BJP leaders and certain officials, and asked whether it was justifiable to drag elderly individuals into such proceedings without credible grounds.
Manjeshwar, the northernmost Assembly constituency in Kerala, has witnessed close electoral contests in recent years, and in the last election, Ashraf defeated then BJP state president K. Surendran by 845 votes, while in 2016, IUML’s P. B. Abdul Razak had won the seat by a margin of 89 votes against the BJP candidate.
Responding to the allegations, District Election Officer and Collector K. Imbashekar stated that 123 applications were heard on Friday in Manjeshwaram constituency as part of the SIR, including eight under Form 7 and 115 under Form 8, and that proceedings were conducted strictly under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
He maintained that objections under Form 7 were a legal right and that the ERO functioned independently under statutory authority, adding that aggrieved individuals could seek a remedy through appeal under Section 24(a) of the Act.