Election Commission caps individual Form 7 filings

The Election Commission of India has capped the number of Form 7 applications an individual elector may file, setting a limit of 10 during a claims-and-objections period and five per month during continuous electoral-roll updates. The restrictions apply to online and offline submissions, the Commission said in instructions issued on October 9 to chief electoral officers of states and Union Territories. Form 7 is used to object to a name’s inclusion on an electoral roll or seek its deletion. The Commission said the limits were intended to address bulk objections it described as lacking substantiated grounds, which it said had inconvenienced electors whose names were challenged and increased the workload of election staff. The materials do not establish how many objections were affected or how many were found to lack grounds. The instructions reinforce checks electoral registration officers must carry out before deciding objections. An officer must notify and hear the objector, record a separate statement for each application and assess its validity, according to the Commission.