The Supreme Court has asked the Election Commission to take corrective steps against Form 7 applications filed in bulk to delete voters’ names during Uttar Pradesh’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR). A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana directed the Commission to examine the allegations and file a compliance report, according to Scroll.in.
What the petitioners alleged
Petitioners told the court that 32 deletion applications were filed against members of a particular community in one Uttar Pradesh constituency, with two of the forms signed by booth-level officers themselves, Scroll.in reported, citing the petitioners’ submissions. Their lawyer called it “an orchestrated effort” and pointed to “material inconsistencies and irreconcilable facts” in the applications.
The petitioners also cited similar bulk-deletion incidents in Telangana and Karnataka, where police FIRs were registered, noting that no equivalent action has followed in Uttar Pradesh so far.
What the Election Commission said
The Commission’s advocate acknowledged in court that Form 7 applications were indeed submitted in bulk, but said no action was taken against the filers because the applications themselves were found to be false, per Scroll.in’s reporting of the hearing.
The order comes weeks after the Commission moved to cap individual filings. On October 9, the Election Commission limited electors to 10 Form 7 applications each, citing cases of bulk filing on unsubstantiated grounds, according to The Wire.
A separate case in the Allahabad High Court
Alongside the Supreme Court hearing, the Allahabad High Court is examining a related complaint. A bench of Justices Alok Mathur and Abdesh Kumar Chaudhary sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission over the alleged illegal deletion of 32 names from a panchayat electoral roll in Balrampur district, Uttar Pradesh, Scroll.in reported.
The petitioners in that case also alleged that non-residents were added to the same rolls. The state’s counter-affidavit is due at the next hearing, scheduled for December 15.
What Form 7 is, and why bulk filings are contested
Form 7 is the objection form used during the Special Intensive Revision to seek the deletion of a name already on the electoral roll, typically on grounds such as death, permanent migration, or duplicate entry. The Commission’s own October 9 order capping filings at 10 per elector was itself a response to concerns that the form was being used to challenge large numbers of voters at once rather than one genuine case at a time, per The Wire’s reporting.
Petitioners in the Supreme Court case argue the cap came too late to undo deletions already filed in bulk, and that booth-level officers signing off on some of the disputed forms raises questions about how closely each individual application was actually checked before voters were struck off the rolls.
Why this matters for the SIR process
The Special Intensive Revision, underway since June 2025, has already drawn Supreme Court scrutiny in other states. The Court separately asked the Commission in October why voters deleted from Delhi’s SIR draft rolls were being told to file Form 6, when they already appeared on the 2026 rolls, as Praman reported in its earlier coverage of the Delhi Form 6 dispute.
Separately, roughly 1,640 foreign citizens were reported found on voter rolls across six states during the same revision exercise, per Praman’s earlier report on that count. Together, the cases reflect a wider pattern of courts stepping in on specific procedural disputes within the SIR, even after the Supreme Court upheld the exercise’s legality in May while ruling that the Commission cannot decide citizenship on its own.
Opposition parties and civil society groups have separately demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, pointing to a report that two election commissioners objected 14 times in 10 months to SIR-related decisions taken by the Commission. The Supreme Court’s latest order does not address that demand, and is confined to the Form 7 complaints raised in the Uttar Pradesh petition.
Frequently asked questions
Did the Supreme Court cancel the disputed Form 7 deletions?
No. The Court did not order the deletions reversed. It directed the Election Commission to examine the allegations and report back, per Scroll.in.
Does the 10-application cap apply retroactively?
The Election Commission’s October 9 cap governs filings going forward. It does not undo Form 7 applications already submitted before that date, which is part of what the Supreme Court petition and the Allahabad High Court case are now contesting.
What happens next?
The Election Commission must file a compliance report in the Supreme Court matter, and the Uttar Pradesh government’s counter-affidavit in the Allahabad High Court case is due at the next hearing on December 15.
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