Kolkata: An effort by residents of an Odisha constituency against an alleged attempt to exclude Muslim names from the electoral rolls received recent fillip from a ground report published on The Wire, eventually prompting the Election Commission to suspend a key official over suspected irregularities.On September 2, The Wire published a ground report headlined ‘In Odisha’s Bhadrak, Muslim Voters Ask Who Are Filing the Form 7s to Delete Them.’ The report, based on the ground investigations by this writer, highlighted concerns over attempts to remove the names of Muslim voters from the electoral rolls through Form 7 during the special intensive revision process.The report also noted the disturbing pattern that had emerged in Bhadrak’s neighbouring Dhamnagar assembly constituency, where complaints over the misuse of Form 7 to delete Muslims were many.The allegations went beyond individual attempts to manipulate the electoral rolls. According to residents, a section of the local administration had become involved in what they described as an unlawful exercise aimed at removing the names of eligible Muslim voters. Residents further alleged that the attempts to delete the names were being carried out at the direction of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Residents told this reporter that they had approached the concerned Booth Level Officers (BLOs) with their concerns only to find that the BLOs themselves were surprised by the allegations as they had visited the houses during the SIR exercise and interacted with the residents as part of the verification process.The question then became more specific: Who had filed the online Form 7s seeking the deletion of their names from the electoral rolls?Residents alleged then that Dhamnagar ERO Santosh Kumar Nayak was involved in the submissions of these applications and that he had improperly used the OTPs sent to the mobile phones of several BLOs to carry out the process.“We visited every household in the Dhamnagar area several times during the SIR process and submitted the information we collected from the residents. Later, we came to know that Form 7 applications had been filed seeking the deletion of around 3,200 names from the electoral rolls in this notified area. In other words, it was being claimed that these 3,200 people did not exist in the area. We were shocked to learn this,’’ Manju Lala Sethi, one of the BLOs in the Dhamnagar area, told The Wire.Another BLO , Nirupama Tripathi, told The Wire that they were pressured to fill out Form 7s. “We could not accept this inhuman direction,’’ she said.Residents in Dhamnagar were indignant and intensified their protests after the news report came out.Several BLOs lodged complaints at Dhamnagar police station against the ERO on September 4, accusing him of irregularities during the SIR process. At the same time, residents across Dhamnagar began taking to the streets, demanding that the electoral roll exercise be conducted transparently and that the names of eligible voters be protected.“We went to Bhubaneswar and submitted our complaint to the State Election Commission,’’ said Mohammad Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, a leader of the Biju Janata Dal’s minority cell. Ahmed alleged that the ERO had acted at the direction of the ruling BJP.At this stage, The Wire’s report helped the voters’ campaign gain ground. “It became a tool for our campaign,” said a Dhamnagar resident.The controversy has now resulted in an unprecedented development in Odisha’s SIR exercise. The Election Commission ordered action against Dhamnagar’s ERO over alleged irregularities involving the use of BLOs credentials, OTPs and Form 7 applications.Santosh Kumar Nayak, the ERO at the centre of the controversy, rejected the allegations when contacted by The Wire.“The allegations against me are fabricated and false. I am innocent,’’ Nayak said. He also questioned why he was being blamed when, according to him, not a single genuine voter had ultimately been removed from the electoral roll.Residents, however, reject that argument. They say it was precisely because they continued to fight that the names of eligible voters were not ultimately deleted. They also credit the BLOs who, they say, stood their ground despite the pressure. “If we had not fought, our situation could have become like West Bengal’s,” a resident told The Wire.On September 21, Susanta Kumar Mishra, Additional Chief Electoral Officer cum Special Secretary in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Odisha, wrote to Bhadrak District Election Officer (DEO)-cum-District Collector, informing him of the Election Commission’s decision to suspend Nayak and directing him to take necessary action. However, four days after the communication was issued, no action has reportedly been taken by the DEO against Dhamnagar assembly constituency’s ERO Santosh Kumar Nayak.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.