Supreme Court seeks report from ECI on Form 7 misuse allegations

The Election Commission of India (EC) told the Supreme Court on Friday (October 30, 2026) that though it found “false” Form 7s for deletion of voters during the Uttar Pradesh Special Intensive Revision (SIR), none of them were accepted.

Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, for the ECI, said corrective measures were taken promptly on discovery of such “false” forms. Authorities had rejected Form 7s filed in violation of norms, the ECI said.

The ECI was responding to allegations levelled in a petition filed by Congress’ Barabanki MP Tanuj Punia, represented by senior advocate Salman Khusheed and advocate Shariq Ahmed, about widespread misuse and fraud in connection with bulk filing of Form 7 during the claims-and-objections phase of the Uttar Pradesh SIR.

Mr. Ahmed questioned the ECI’s claim that false Form 7s were stopped at the gates. He said the court must subject this claim to judicial scrutiny. The counsel argued that it was exactly the lack of any corrective measures in the Uttar Pradesh SIR that “emboldened” the filing of bulk Form 7s in Karnataka and Telangana.

“Of the 32 Form 7s in the Hata Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh, two were signed by the booth-level officer. All these forms pertained to deletion of voters belonging to one community,” the counsel submitted. The court asked Mr. Ahmed to submit a note with details and additional information, if any, on the issue.

“Let the ECI look into these issues, take necessary action and file a compliance report,” the court observed.