The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to identify booth-level officers (BLOs), electoral registration officers (EROs), and assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) who allegedly refused to accept Form-7 applications for voter deletions. Form-7 applications are used to remove deceased, duplicate, and relocated voters from the voter list.
According to Samik Bhattacharya, BJP’s state president in West Bengal, during the initial stage of the Special Intensive Revision exercise, many BLOs, allegedly influenced by the ruling Trinamool Congress, declined to accept Form-7 applications. This led to the retention of names of deceased, duplicate, and relocated voters in the draft voter list published on December 16 last year.
In the ongoing second phase of the revision exercise, where claims and objections on the draft voter list are being heard, Bhattacharya highlighted that BLOs, along with some EROs and AEROs, are reportedly not accepting genuine Form-7 applications. The alleged motive behind this is to retain the names of deceased, duplicate, and relocated voters in the final voter list to facilitate fraudulent voting on polling day.
“We are identifying these electoral officers and some West Bengal Civil Service officers for their actions. Necessary actions will be taken against them,” Bhattacharya stated, emphasizing that the BJP is committed to addressing this issue.
The Trinamool Congress, on the other hand, has accused the BJP of attempting to submit bulk Form-7 applications to delete genuine voters from the final voter list. The final voter list is set to be published on February 14, with a possibility of an extension by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Following this, the ECI is expected to announce the polling dates for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.
