Around 30 Muslim residents of Chikkadapally in Hyderabad say a BJP booth level agent they have known since childhood sought the deletion of their names from the voter list, even though none of them qualified for removal. The allegations were first reported by The News Minute (TNM). The agent could not be reached for comment.
According to TNM, SV Balachander is the booth level agent (BLA) for polling station 210 in the Musheerabad Assembly constituency and is a BJP member. He is accused of giving around thirty Form 7 applications to the booth level officer (BLO). Form 7 is used to seek the removal of a name from the electoral rolls when a person has died, has moved elsewhere or holds two voter IDs. TNM reported that all the names belong to Muslim families living in the same slum as Balachander, and that none of them meets any of these conditions.
The list includes Mohammad Baba Sharfuddin, a Congress BLA and vice president of the party’s Bhaglingampally division. He lives about 150 metres from Balachander and has known him for over twenty years. Sharfuddin told TNM he got a call from the BLO about a week ago and was stunned to learn that the forms covered not only him but also his wife, his four siblings and their spouses, and some children. In all, twenty names from his family were listed. When he confronted Balachander, Sharfuddin said, the BJP BLA replied, “I don’t know what Form 7 is used for.” Sharfuddin also said Balachander told him the forms had been given to him at the BJP office with a request to submit them.
Another neighbour, Mohammed Shareef, 30, said he and Balachander grew up together. Ten members of his family were also on the list. His brother Nawaz told TNM they learnt of the matter only when officials came to inquire. A deputy commissioner visited them on September 30 and told them an objection had been filed against them.
Sharfuddin alerted election officials, including the constituency’s Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), Praveen Reddy. TNM said two inquiries followed, first by the BLO and junior officials and then by the ERO and senior officers. The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee has also written to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Sudarshan Reddy, asking him to look into it.
All thirty residents’ votes are safe, but no action has been taken against Balachander. Sharfuddin told TNM he believes the agent may have been made a scapegoat and may not have understood how serious the matter was. He still wants accountability and has questioned why the objections were filed at all.
On October 1, CEO Sudarshan Reddy said that multiple Form 7 applications do not automatically lead to deletions and that every bulk request is checked before any change is made. TNM noted that he did not mention punishing those who file such bulk requests. It added that in Karnataka, where similar allegations arose, the state CEO had asked election officers to take legal action against anyone filing bulk Form 7 applications on false grounds.
