Five men linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have filed 6,500 bulk objections to delete Muslim names from the electoral rolls in five Uttarakhand constituencies in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), according to an analysis by Newslaundry.
Currently, Uttarakhand’s SIR process is in the notice period till September 11, with the final rolls scheduled to be published on September 15. The draft electoral roll was published on July 14 with a 10 per cent decrease in the number of names, with 71.3 lakh names from the earlier 79.6 lakh.
The objections were received in the claims and objections round, which concluded on August 13.
At least 4,857 objections were filed in the Kichha Assembly constituency in Uddham Singh Nagar district, of which 4,855 of them were traced back to one person, identified as Rajesh Tiwari, locally reported as a booth-level agent of the BJP.
Tiwari’s reason for filing the objections was always the same: “already enrolled.” According to a Hindustan report, former Kichha BJP MLA Rajesh Shukla said that an internal review by Tiwari found that the constituency voter roll allegedly included more than 8,000 duplicate voters registered in the bordering Uttar Pradesh districts like Rampur, Pilibhit and Bareilly.
Muslim voters make up approximately 28.4 per cent of the electorate. BJP’s Shukla held the Kiccha seat for two terms until 2022, when Congress’ Tilak Raj Behar defeated him by more than 10,000 votes.
Raees Ahmad was among the many whose names were listed in the objections, with the reason being “shifted.”
“I am around 60 years old and was born here. I have contested the panchayat elections twice and was a state minister in the Harish Rawat government,” he said.
Ahmad alleged that since the BJP lost the last election, they are trying to remove Muslim voters from the roll. “There are around 45,000 to 50,000 Muslim voters in our constituency, and the BJP lost this seat in the last election. They want to remove Muslim voters from the electoral roll.”
He alleged that the mass objections to Muslim names are being done by former BJP MLA Rajesh Shukla and his associates. “They think they will lose the election, which is why they are submitting the names of Muslim electors for deletion.”
The second-highest single-objector was recorded in Gadarpur in Uddham Singh Nagar again, where Chankit Huria filed Form 7 objecting to the inclusion of 670 names, all confirmed as Muslims.
Huria’s filings accounted for roughly 49 per cent of the 1,370 deletion requests. He told Newslaundry that as the BJP’s BLA-1, he submitted a list of around 900 voters.
The Gadarpur seat has 21.5 per cent Muslim voters, 11.34 per cent are Scheduled Castes and 7.7 per cent are Scheduled Tribes. Arvind Pandey of BJP won the seat for the third consecutive time in 2022 with a margin of 1,120 votes — a drastic fall from 14,106 votes in 2017.
Serving as both a BLA and the party vice president in Khatima constituency, Amit Kumar Pandey filed 392 deletion requests out of a total of 394.
Khatima constituency is traditionally Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami‘s seat. However, he was defeated by Bhuwan Chandra Kapri from the Congress in 2022 by 6,579 votes.
The ruling BJP is micro-monitoring the 23 seats lost in the 2022 elections, Indian Express reported, and Khatima is on the list.
Around 90 pc of the Form 7 applications in Nanakmatta, with a 13 pc Muslim electorate, came from Kishor Joshi, who identifies as a BJP BLA.
Of the total 391 deletion requests, Newslaundry reported that Joshi filed 353 applications. Similar to his other party BLAs, Joshi also mentioned the reason for objection as “shifted.”
The BJP BLA attributes the deletion requests to large-scale migration from neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh. Joshi said over the past two decades, he observed a significant and unusual rise in voting percentage in Muslim-dominated areas. The BLA said all his requests are supported by verifiable documents and that he is even ready to show them at a hearing.
Currently, Congress holds the seat, represented by Gopal Singh Rana, who won the seat from the BJP for the first time.
Arif was named in Kishor Joshi’s list of objections and said his name was in the “absent/permanently shifted” category. But he claims he has been residing in the constituency for 10 years and even voted in the last election.
Arif has not been issued a notice yet over the objection and said he was unaware that his name was being listed for deletion.
With 11.13 pc of Muslim electors, Rudrapur in Uddham Singh Nagar received 2,818 deletion requests. The BJP won the seat in the last three elections. The report said that Sunny Paswan, the party’s SC Morcha general secretary, filed for the removal of 230 names, all Muslims.
The 2023 guidelines published by the Election Commission of India (ECI) define a bulk application as a single individual submitting a form on behalf of multiple people who do not belong to the same family. It created specific relaxations for party BLAs, permitting them to submit up to 10 applications per day with a written declaration in the format and a list of applications.
If a BLA files more than 30 objections, the manual requires the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) or the Assistant ERO (AERO) to “personally” cross-check the applications.
Each of the EROs of the five districts had distinct excuses. Gadarpur ERO Amrita Sharma replied to Newslaundry with a screenshot of an ECI letter on the Bengal SIR that states there is no limit on the number of forms individuals can submit. However, that letter does not mean the same can be applied to Uttarakhand SIR, nor did the ERO clarify the issue.
While Khatima ERO Tushar Saini said the BLA took full responsibility, Kichha ERO Gaurav Pandey said the online portal received Tiwari’s 4,800-plus applications.
