EROs used digi signs to delete voters: TNCC president Manickam Tagore

CHENNAI: TNCC president Manickam Tagore on Friday alleged that the Election Commission's ERONet software was used to automatically generate Form 7 applications against voters, deleting lakhs of names from electoral rolls. He termed the alleged practice a deliberate attack on democracy and voters' rights.

In a statement, Tagore claimed that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), who are expected to function impartially in the electoral process, had themselves become complainants by generating the forms using their digital signatures. He pointed out that, according to the Election Manual 2024, electoral officials were not permitted to file Form 7 applications independently, which are used to raise objections to the inclusion of names in electoral rolls.

He also alleged that the software had bypassed the rule that objections could be raised only by another voter registered in the same constituency.

Accusing the Election Commission of acting at the behest of the BJP-led Union government, Tagore demanded that it disclose who authorised the automated generation of the forms.

He also called for the publication of complete State-wise and constituency-wise lists of voters whose names had been deleted through the alleged process. The Commission must immediately restore the names of voters removed without proper field verification, he said.

Tagore added that the Congress would continue its struggle to protect voting rights and safeguard democracy from political interference.