A Booth Level Agent (BLA) of the Bharatiya Janata Party was arrested and later released on bail in Jharkhand’s Godda district after being accused of submitting around 200 Form 7 applications seeking the deletion of voters’ names from the electoral rolls.
The applications were submitted during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. According to a complaint and reports by The Indian Express, all the applications at Booth No. 231 in Pachrukhi village allegedly concerned voters from the minority community.
Complaint Filed Against BJP Agent
The FIR was filed on September 3 at Godda Muffasil Police Station on the complaint of voter Mukarram Ansari. He alleged that the voters targeted through the applications were genuine and included several members of the minority community.
Booth Level Officer (BLO) Sajida Bibi also said her own name and that of her husband appeared among the voters whose names were sought to be deleted.
The FIR invokes provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to forgery and intentional insult, along with Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act concerning false declarations during preparation of electoral rolls.
Police Inspector Anand Sah confirmed that BLA Vinay Kumar Mandal was arrested on September 3 and released on bail a few hours later.
BLO Says She Refused to Accept Forms Without Verification
Sajida Bibi said Mandal brought around 200 Form 7 applications to her on August 29 and asked her to sign them and provide a receipt.
She said she refused to do so before verifying the applications.
“I later checked and found they were all Form 7s. There were many names, including my own and my husband’s,” Bibi said, adding that all the applications related to Muslim voters.
Ansari said the residents informed senior officials after learning that their names had allegedly been included in the applications.
BJP Agent Says He Was Asked to Submit Forms
Mandal told The Indian Express that he submitted the forms after being instructed to do so following a meeting of BJP booth-level agents.
He said he was later called to Pachrukhi village to collect a receipt but was surrounded and allegedly beaten by local residents before police intervened.
Mandal acknowledged that most of the around 200 forms he submitted concerned Muslim voters. However, he claimed that another BLA had submitted similar forms in his own village, which he described as predominantly Hindu.
He also said he understood that Form 7 could be used to raise an objection regarding a voter and that the BLO would verify the information before any deletion.
Probe Ordered Into Bulk Form Submissions
The incident comes after an earlier investigation by The Indian Express found instances of BJP BLAs submitting Form 7 applications against voters in Godda district’s Maheshtikri block, with many of the targeted voters reportedly belonging to the minority community.
BLOs at at least four booths had allegedly refused to accept the forms and filed complaints. The District Election Officer subsequently ordered an investigation into the bulk submission of applications.
Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said BLOs could not refuse to accept Form 7 applications and clarified that a voter’s name could only be deleted after verification and an inquiry.
BJP, RJD Leaders Trade Allegations
Former Godda BJP MLA Amit Mandal defended Vinay Mandal and alleged that he had been “wrongfully held hostage” by local residents. He also claimed there was a threat of a lynching-like incident and accused RJD workers of being involved.
Amit Mandal said he helped secure the BLA’s release on bail.
Rajnish Yadav, son of RJD leader Sanjay Prasad Yadav, rejected the allegation and said no one had harmed Mandal.
“Does he know the meaning of mob lynching? No one harmed his BLA,” Yadav said, describing the episode as one of “stealing and then acting brazenly”.
