Kasaragod: Four days after election officials heard and dismissed the BJP’s objection that a voter in Manjeshwar was not an Indian citizen, the party said the entry citing citizenship in Form 7 was a technical glitch.

However, it maintained that it would continue to extensively use Form 7 -- a legal right for fellow voters to seek deletion of names of those who are absent, shifted or dead from the electoral roll -- in Kasaragod and Manjeshwar constituencies.

After the reason cited in the Form 7 application filed by BJP district secretary Lokesh Nonda S was found to be bogus, District Collector Inbasekar K said he would be booked for “deliberately misleading” the electoral process. However, the BJP appeared to tie itself in knots while defending and attempting to explain Nonda’s application against K Mohammed (55), a manual labourer of Kayyar village in Paivalike panchayat. He produced documents to prove his residence and citizenship.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, BJP district president Ashwini M L said the citizenship remark was not deliberate. According to her, the party had recorded Mohammed as “absent” in the physical Form 7. “But when it was uploaded online, it was registered as ‘not an Indian citizen’. It was a technical mistake,” she said.

Ashwini said the party had decided to extensively use Form 7 in Manjeshwar and Kasaragod, alleging that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) had been winning “on the strength of bogus voters” for years. Since the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in Manjeshwar did not accept paper submissions, the BJP requested that its staff upload the applications online in bulk. The error, she said, may have occurred during this process.

However, the party has not yet informed the District Electoral Officer that the citizenship remark was a mistake. Ashwini said the party wanted to ascertain how the error occurred before submitting a formal clarification.

But when it was pointed out that Lokesh Nonda could have saved the BJP the embarrassment and legal trouble for him if he had admitted during the hearing on February 13 that it was a mistake. But he kept mum. Ashwini said he could have been confused. She said the party became aware that it filed one erroneous complaint only when Manjeshwar MLA A K M Ashraf "went to town", accusing the BJP through media that it was trying to delete Muslim names and questioning the citizenship of Muslim voters.

BJP district general secretary P R Sunil reiterated that while the party had used Form 7 extensively, it had never cited citizenship as grounds for deletion in any other case. Mohammed’s instance, he said, was an isolated technical error.

The BJP accused Ashraf of exploiting the issue to polarise voters. “He is asking whether people will be sent to Pakistan if they are not Indian citizens. He is trying to instil fear in the Muslim community by suggesting that if the BJP wins, minorities cannot live here. That is the communal polarisation he is carrying out. He should stop that. He should face the election politically and democratically, and speak about development. That is our challenge to him," said Sunil.

BJP flags voter deletions after SIR
Ashwini admitted that more BJP supporters were deleted during the recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Manjeshwar. Of the nearly 15,000 names removed as permanently shifted, absent or dead, she claimed around 9,000 were BJP voters. “We did not go to the media or question the credibility of the SIR. We are working to bring genuine voters back on the rolls,” she said.

She also pointed to the 36,410 applications received for fresh enrolment in Manjeshwar, claiming the BJP could verify only about 11,000. “The rest could not be verified. It is clear that additions have largely come from Muslim League strongholds,” she alleged.

Sunil further claimed that the IUML was using “favourable booth-level officers (BLOs)” to add bogus voters. He said an unusually high number of additions were observed between 6 pm and 7 pm. "BLOs can add names without OTP verification," he said. Ashraf, in turn, has alleged that the BJP is attempting to delete Muslim voters with the help of "a section of officials".

"Ashraf was focused solely on winning the election by inflaming passions and polarising the constituency. He should stop spreading fear among the Muslim community,” Sunil said.

There is a reason why the BJP is appealing to the Muslim League leader. In Manjeshwar, the BJP enjoys the backing of 75% to 80% of Hindu voters, while the IUML secures only around 65% of Muslim votes. Any consolidation of Muslim votes further in favour of the IUML would widen the gap with the BJP.