The filing of claims and objections under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh is nearing completion. The Congress has raised concerns, accusing the ruling BJP of using pre-printed Form 7 applications to delete voters’ names without proper verification. Congress leader Kamal Nath stated that Booth Level Agents (BLAs) allegedly submitted pre-filled Form 7 applications to remove genuine voters from the rolls through a centralized system.
A delegation from the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), led by state unit president Jitu Patwari, visited the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to highlight discrepancies in the SIR exercise. The Election Commission reported receiving approximately 7.17 lakh applications for inclusion of names and around 83,000 applications for exclusion as of Wednesday evening.
Following the release of draft electoral rolls on December 23, which suggested the likely deletion of over 42 lakh voters across 55 districts in Madhya Pradesh, a controversy emerged. Election officials clarified that the deletions are not final and eligible voters have the opportunity to restore their names. Voters missing from the draft rolls can apply for inclusion by submitting Form 6 online through the Election Commission portal or offline with the Booth Level Officer (BLO) or Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).
