AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday alleged that BJP activists were filing Form 7 applications to remove the names of Muslim voters from electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Telangana.
Owaisi urged the Election Commission and the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer to scrutinise every Form 7 application seeking deletion of voters' names and verify the identity of those filing them.
Addressing a gathering late on Saturday, the Hyderabad MP alleged that the names of applicants submitting Form 7 were not being disclosed. He also claimed that a BJP Booth Level Agent (BLA) in Musheerabad had submitted applications seeking deletion of Muslim voters' names.
Form 7 is used to file objections to the inclusion or seek deletion of a name from an existing electoral roll.
"BJP and Sangh Parivar people want to get names deleted by submitting Form 7," Owaisi alleged, urging Electoral Registration Officers to verify such applications and take action if they were found to be false.
He warned of protests in Hyderabad if, he alleged, genuine voters' names were targeted for deletion.
"If this drama does not stop, remember, we will do the 'mantar', that was not read at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, on the streets of Hyderabad. Then they will have a big problem," Owaisi said.
He asked AIMIM workers to find out from election officials who had filed Form 7 applications and warned that protests in Hyderabad could be "double, triple" the scale of demonstrations held in Delhi and Mumbai.
Owaisi also criticised the SIR exercise, alleging that it was aimed at deleting names from electoral rolls, raising questions over citizenship and eventually paving the way for an NRC. He noted that the Supreme Court had upheld the SIR exercise.
Responding to his allegations, Telangana BJP chief spokesperson N V Subash said Owaisi should approach the appropriate legal forum if he had evidence of electoral malpractice.
"A person with a legal background should know that serious allegations against a Constitutional authority cannot be established through public statements alone," Subash said.
He said allegations against the Election Commission and the electoral process should be backed by evidence and placed before competent authorities.
"If Owaisi has evidence, let him produce it. If he has a grievance, let him pursue the remedy provided by law. But political rhetoric cannot become a substitute for proof, and allegations cannot be allowed to become electoral facts merely by repetition," Subash said.
(With inputs from PTI)