Somnath SIR: 269 file 15,000 voter deletion forms, mostly Muslims

During the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Gujarat’s Somnath assembly constituency in January, as many as 15,663 voter deletion forms were submitted in bulk, with most reportedly targeting Muslim voters, Newslaundry reported on February 11.

Data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) shows that the constituency has around 2.6 lakh registered voters. The seat witnessed a narrow contest in the 2022 Assembly elections, when BJP candidate Mansingh Parmar lost to Congress’ Vimalbhai Chudasma by a margin of 922 votes. Congress workers in the constituency said Muslims make up at least 50,000 voters.

Of the 15,663 Form 7 applications seeking voter deletion, most were filed by just 269 individuals. According to News On Air, the ECI has clarified that a single person is permitted to submit multiple Form 7 applications. However, it has also been said that to curb misuse, electoral registration officers are alerted for mandatory scrutiny if more than five objections are filed by the same individual, Siasat Daily reported.

Documents accessed by Newslaundry show that while voters’ details were printed in English on the forms, the names and details of the objectors were handwritten. In one instance, the objector’s name Vishavadiya Bharatbhai Narsibha, EPIC number and mobile number were handwritten in Gujarati, while the voter’s details with the name Nasimben Chauhan were printed in English.

All 269 objectors reportedly submitted more than 50 applications each, despite Election Commission guidelines restricting bulk submissions and limiting booth-level agents to filing no more than 10 Form 7s per day. It is not clear whether the applications were submitted on a single day.

Newslaundry also reported that several objectors could be linked to the BJP, including the Somnath BJP women’s wing president and 29 party councillors from Veraval and Patan. Out of the 269 objectors, six individuals denied filing the forms and submitted affidavits stating that their names, EPIC numbers and phone numbers had been misused.

While many applications cited reasons such as voters being “absent” or having “permanently shifted” — both valid grounds for deletion — some listed “not an Indian citizen” as the reason. Such bulk objections require physical verification by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs).

Somnath District Collector and District Electoral Officer V.N. Upadhyay told Newslaundry that six AEROs had been deployed due to the complexity of the verification process and assured that no voter would be removed arbitrarily.

One of those who claimed misuse of identity, Dharmandra Amrutlal Kotecha, said he was unaware of any such applications being filed by him and had submitted an affidavit to the district administration.

Gujarat is among the 12 states and Union Territories where the SIR exercise was conducted. The first draft electoral roll released on December 19 showed that about 73.73 lakh names had been deleted statewide, reducing the electorate from 5.08 crore to 4.34 crore.

Authorities accepted applications for inclusion and deletion until January 30. On January 28, officials said nearly 9.88 lakh Form 7 applications had been received, but this figure was later revised to 1.8 lakh by the Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer’s office. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on February 17.