Another group, 1L strong, pads up to stand in queues
Times of India | 23 January 2026
Kolkata: Another group, 1 lakh-strong, now have to get ready to stand in SIR queues.
The EC has summoned about 30 lakh "unmapped" electors for hearings. In addition, it has decided to hold hearings for cases involving ‘logical discrepancies'. Now, the poll panel will also hold hearings for electors against whom objections were raised through Form 7. Any voter, as well as a political party, can submit Form 7 offline or online for exclusion of an ineligible voter (permanently shifted/deceased) from electoral roll.
"The hearings for the unmapped voters were completed. Now, voters with logical discrepancies are being called to appear in hearings. After the conclusion of their hearings, about 1 lakh cases that we received for exclusion from the electoral roll will be heard by the AEROs," a senior EC official said.
The commission received 41,961 Form 7 from Dec 17 to Jan 19 for the exclusion of the deceased/permanently shifted electors from the final electoral roll. Additionally, 56,867 Form 7s were received by the EC for deletion before the publication of the draft SIR roll on Dec 16.
"All these 98,828 cases will be disposed of after the hearings. According to the EC's norms, no eligible voter against whom an objection is raised through Form 7 can be excluded from the electoral list without hearing," another commission official said.
The hearings for all such cases will be conducted by the AEROs.
"The person who raised the objection through Form 7 and against whom the objection is being made — both will be called to the hearing. If Form 7 is submitted to delete the name of a dead voter, then one of the family members of the elector will be called in a hearing before the AERO. In addition, the EC can also ask the BLOs for a field visit to enquire and submit a report," the official elaborated, while adding that all the cases will be disposed of after a successful hearing.
The EC received a total of 604 Form 7 from political parties, of which the BJP submitted applications for deletion of 591 voters. The Trinamool Congress submitted 13 Form 7s to the Commission.
The EC stated that a voter can submit Form 7 for any other voter as many times as he/she wishes. The EC also said that a BLA can fill Form 7 in the capacity of an elector of that constituency, and the same conditions mentioned in the case of an elector shall also apply in this case. BLAs are permitted to collect and submit 10 Form 7 applications in a day during the revision period, the EC added.