Congress alleges BJP voter deletion drive in Thrissur ahead of polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a voter deletion exercise in the Thrissur constituency ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections, allegedly modelled on voter manipulation witnessed during the recent Lok Sabha polls, Thrissur District Congress Committee (DCC) president Joseph Tajet has alleged.

Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Mr. Tajet said the BJP had filed Form 7 applications on a large scale seeking the deletion of 374 voters across six booths — 150, 151, 155, 157, 163 and 166 — in the Thrissur constituency. He alleged that the applications lacked valid grounds and selectively targeted voters traditionally aligned with the Congress-led United Democratic Front.

He further claimed that in booth number 166, the BJP had even sought the deletion of the son of the Booth Level Officer, Tejas Thomas, from the electoral roll. Accusing the CPI(M) of tacitly facilitating the move, Mr. Tajet said recent UDF gains in local body elections had unsettled both the LDF and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, prompting attempts to “hijack the voter list through the back door.”

Mr. Tajet alleged that the initiation of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) procedures had resulted in the exclusion of thousands of voters who had exercised their franchise in the last Lok Sabha election. He claimed that nearly 24,000 voters from the Thrissur constituency were removed from the ASD (Absentee, Shifted and Dead) list alone, raising serious questions about who filed the applications, whether hearings were conducted, and whether any field-level verification by Booth Level Officers took place.

‘Opaque process’

Describing the process as unilateral and opaque, he alleged that voters were deprived of their democratic rights based on anonymous applications and without due procedure. Mr. Tajet demanded immediate intervention by the Election Commission and the District Collector .

He said the Congress had already lodged a formal complaint with the District Collector and alleged that similar attempts in several other booths were withdrawn only after they triggered controversy. He also demanded criminal action against BJP leaders who, he claimed, submitted Form 7 applications in violation of established norms with the intent to manipulate the electoral roll.