TN voter alleges irregularities in ECI poll forms, seeks SC-monitored audit

CHENNAI: Alleging irregularities in the handling of key election documents during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, M Balaji, a voter from Tamil Nadu, coordinator of the Tamil Nadu Veterinary Graduates Federation and former state secretary of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), has called for a Supreme Court-monitored independent audit of Election Commission of India (ECI) forms.

Balaji said he had filed a Right to Information request seeking data on Forms 17A, 17C, 20, 21, 21E, and 21D in a prescribed format.

According to him, the ECI declined to provide the information in that format, stating it was already available on its website.

He claimed that his second appeal before the Central Information Commission, filed in December 2024 (Diary No. 654665/2025), remains pending.

He also wrote a letter to the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. In the letter, Balaji alleged that the irregularities amounted to ‘vote chori’ and worked to the political advantage of the BJP. He urged the Congress to move the Supreme Court for an audit of the forms under court supervision.

The letter also stressed the need for proactive booth committees and better micro-management at the polling station level, especially in five states — Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand — where the BJP won 88 of 98 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections. Balaji further urged vigilance over second-line leaders within the party who, he alleged, had favoured BJP leaders in the past.