Bulk forms were filed to delete 15,663 voters in Gujarat’s Somnath assembly constituency last month. Most of these targeted individuals were Muslim, according to documents exclusively accessed by Newslaundry.

This seat saw a tight contest in the 2022 assembly polls, where Congress’s Vimalbhai Chudasma defeated BJP’s Mansingh Parmar by just 922 votes. ECI data shows a total of 2.6 lakh voters; of these, local Congress party workers estimate that Muslims form a prominent bloc of more than 50,000.

Of the 15,663 Form-7 applications, a staggering number appeared to be pre-filled and then submitted by just 269 people. 

Form-7 is used to request a voter’s deletion. It contains details of both the objector and the voter whose inclusion is being challenged. Newslaundry has reviewed copies of Form-7s where voter details – such as name, mobile number, constituency, EPIC number, and booth number – are printed in English, while the objectors' details are handwritten in Gujarati.

For example, in one such form, the name of the objector – Vishavadiya Bharatbhai Narsibhai – and his EPIC no. and mobile no. are handwritten in Gujarati. Though the details of the voter, Nasimben Chauhan, are in English and digitally printed. 

Each of the 269 objectors submitted 50 or more Form-7 applications. This despite the Election Commission's manual restricting the receipt of bulk Form-7 applications. Even a booth-level agent (BLA) can file up to 10 Form-7s per day. Newslaundry could not establish whether these forms were submitted in bulk on the same day.

Some of these objectors are BJP members, including the Somnath BJP women’s wing president Manjulaben Suyani and 29 BJP councillors from the towns of Veraval and Patan.

Six people among these 269 objectors have even denied filling out these forms and have filed affidavits alleging that their names, phone numbers, and alphanumeric elector photo identity card (EPIC) numbers were fraudulently used. 

Among the reasons seeking the removal of these voters are ‘absent’ and ‘permanently shifted’. Newslaundry came across a few Form-7 applications in which “not an Indian citizen” is also a ground for objection.

Such bulk forms mandate personal verification by the electoral registration officer and additional electoral registration officers. Somnath District Collector and District Electoral Officer (DEO) VN Upadhyay told Newslaundry that he had deployed six AEROs due to the “challenge” posed by the verification process. He assured that no name would be deleted arbitrarily.