Election Commission of India caps Form 7 voter deletion requests to stop bulk abuse

The Election Commission of India has capped the number of voter deletion requests an individual can file, moving to stop political operatives from trying to strike names from electoral rolls in bulk.

Under the new rules, an individual elector is allowed to file a maximum of 10 Form 7 applications during the entire claims-and-objections period. For the rest of the year, during continuous roll updates, the limit drops to five applications per month. The restrictions apply equally to online and physical submissions.

Form 7 is the official document used to object to someone's inclusion in the voter list or to seek their deletion. By law, it can only be filed by a voter already registered in the same constituency.

The Commission introduced the caps in instructions sent to chief electoral officers across all states and Union territories. The changes follow several high-profile controversies where local politicians and party agents allegedly targeted specific communities or rival supporters with mass deletion requests.

Why the caps were introduced

In Hyderabad's Musheerabad constituency, the Congress party accused a BJP booth-level agent of filing more than 30 Form 7 applications to delete members of a single Muslim family. Similar bulk submissions with pre-filled forms and missing applicant details were reported in the Bahadurpura and Goshamahal constituencies. Complaints of bulk submissions have also cropped up in Karnataka and Rajasthan.

Before this directive, online Form 7 submissions were capped at six at a time, but there was no defined limit on physical paper forms. This left local Electoral Registration Officers to decide whether to accept bundles of paper forms, which the Commission said has overloaded field staff and inconvenienced genuine voters.

Strict verification rules for officers

Under the updated guidelines, local registration officers must reject any form that is incomplete or lacks the objector’s original signature. A stamped seal of a signature is no longer acceptable.

Election officials must also cross-reference every applicant against the electoral roll. If they proceed with an objection, they must issue a formal notice, hear the objector in person, and record a separate statement for each form filed. The person whose vote is being challenged must also be given a fair chance to defend their registration before any name is struck off.

Those who file false or fabricated objections face legal action. The Commission has directed officers to prosecute offenders under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which carries penalties for making false declarations.

The new restrictions do not change the rules for authorised booth-level agents of recognised political parties. During special revision exercises, these agents can still submit up to 50 forms a day before the draft roll is published, and 10 forms a day after.