Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has decided to order a police investigation into the alleged misuse of Form 7 applications to delete names from electoral rolls, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Thursday.
Speaking at an INDIA bloc protest rally titled ‘Stop Electoral Fraud, Save the Nation’ at Freedom Park, Shivakumar alleged that the applications had been used in a planned attempt to remove eligible voters from the rolls.
He claimed that CCTV footage was available to identify those who allegedly instigated the deletions and distributed the forms. A case would be registered and legal action initiated, he said.
Shivakumar alleged that Form 7 applications had been printed at the BJP office and circulated to local party leaders with voters’ names, identity card numbers and phone details already filled in. He claimed that 10,000 to 20,000 such applications were planned for use in each constituency, targeting voters from Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and minority communities.
He cited alleged attempts to delete voters’ names in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Bengaluru constituencies, and said party workers had helped prevent the deletions.
The deputy CM also questioned the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process and demanded restoration of the names of all eligible voters wrongly removed from electoral rolls.
He said the government would continue its efforts until eligible voters received justice. Shivakumar also criticised the Election Commission, alleging that it was not functioning independently and was favouring a particular political party.