A review of Form 10 reports — the publicly accessible records listing all challenges to voter inclusion in electoral rolls — covering the period from 21 to 27 September found that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) appeared as the party raising objections against up to 25 individual voters within a broader pool of thousands of challenges lodged against names on Delhi's draft roll.

Of the 1,997 electors whose names faced objections through Form 7 during the seven-day window, these submissions stood apart as the only ones where the field designated for stating a reason had been left unfilled. Of the 25 total, twelve fall within Sadar Bazar — three of those filed by EROs — while seven are located in Malviya Nagar, four in Chhattarpur, and one apiece in Kirari and Vikaspuri.

Each of the 25 electors had received a notice tied to either a 'logical discrepancy' or a 'no mapping' entry found within the draft roll that came out on August 31. Among the 4,401 formal objections logged during the claims and objections window of Delhi's active special intensive revision exercise, these particular filings represent a subset now under review.

Ashok Lavasa, who previously served as Election Commissioner, noted that while EROs and AEROs submitting Form 7s had not been a known practice, deploying the form to open an inquiry might satisfy a procedural requirement and would not amount to a violation of the law provided that proper process was observed thereafter. Mr Lavasa also noted that he was uncertain whether the technical formality had been a requirement at all.

When contacted, the EROs and AEROs in question pointed to a range of grounds — among them confirmed deaths, field-verification reports submitted by Booth Level Officers (BLOs), complaints lodged by relatives, and instances where electors did not appear at notice hearings — and noted that the filing of an objection does not automatically result in a voter's name being removed from the rolls. An electoral registration officer explained that the procedure forms part of the verification steps through which registered voters are sent formal notices and allowed a 15-day window to submit reasons against the deletion of their names from the rolls.

Mala Sood, an electoral registration officer based in the Sadar Bazar area, explained that the filing represents a formal objection only, one that may stem from any number of circumstances — among them the death of a registered voter or information gathered through Block Level Officer field reports. Any removal will take place only after the relevant facts have been independently confirmed.

Objections targeting voters listed as residing at addresses where they could not be located were lodged by area officials, who explained that a field report submitted by the booth-level officer — documenting that the elector was absent during a visit to deliver the Special Intensive Revision notice — formed the basis for the action.

Following that notice, coverage published on 27 September by a broadcast outlet indicated that roughly 32 voters in the Sadar Bazar area had been placed on an ineligibility list — part of a wider pool of approximately 350 such cases across Delhi — after those individuals neither attended scheduled hearings nor submitted the documentation that had been requested of them.

Voters or other eligible parties can lodge a challenge through Form 7 when seeking to remove a name from the electoral roll — whether the basis is death, a duplicate registration, lack of citizenship, prolonged absence, or a permanent change of residence. Any challenge to an electoral result is required to be brought by a registered voter within the same constituency, and the burden of establishing that challenge falls entirely on the person raising it.

Neither the Election Commission's Manual on Electoral Rolls 2023 nor the SIR guidelines specify whether an ERO or AERO may file objections through Form 7s, yet the authority to launch an inquiry — drawing on BLO reports to assess whether a name warrants removal — does vest in the ERO. Any removal carried out under this process is preceded by a formal inquiry, with a documented justification provided for the action taken. Responsibility for compiling the electoral roll rests with an ERO, who also holds the power to rule on any claims or objections lodged against it.

Written queries were directed to the office of Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar, seeking clarification on whether EROs and AEROs are expected to draw on Form 7 when initiating a suo motu inquiry. No reply had arrived by the publication deadline.

Claims and objections are open for lodging until 30 October, with the updated electoral roll scheduled to appear in its final form on 4 December. Following the release of the draft roll, electoral authorities logged 1.76 lakh requests for new name entries alongside 4,401 formal challenges seeking the removal of existing entries.