India election body orders inquiry into bulk voter-roll deletion forms in Karnataka
India’s Election Commission has ordered an inquiry into bulk filings seeking deletion of voters from Karnataka’s electoral rolls, after Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar staged a five-hour protest. The commission said electoral officials should act against applicants who knowingly make false declarations, while the BJP defended its workers’ submissions.
India’s Election Commission has ordered an inquiry into bulk filings seeking the deletion of names from Karnataka’s electoral rolls, following a five-hour protest by Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and his Cabinet colleagues. Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V.
Anbu Kumar directed Electoral Registration Officers to act against applicants who knowingly make false statements or declarations in Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8. Shivakumar withdrew the protest after the announcement. The chief minister had alleged that pre-filled Form-7 applications were filed in bulk across the State by workers of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular).
He said the applications targeted Muslims, members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, claiming they had moved or were absent. Shivakumar alleged that many of the forms were false or forged. In Belagavi and Vijayapura, BJP workers who had filed forms in bulk later withdrew them after being warned of punitive action if the claims proved false.
Written declarations said the submissions had been made by mistake. Karnataka Police registered five first information reports on Thursday under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023. The Representation of the People Act, 1951, was not used because only Election Commission officials can lodge complaints under that law, according to the report.
Anbu Kumar said there had been instances of bulk Form-7 applications and that some were alleged to be not genuine. He directed officials to proceed under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, after an inquiry under Rule 20 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The BJP defended its workers, saying that flagging suspected ineligible voters was not a crime.
Opposition Leader in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi described the allegations as further evidence of “vote theft” and said Muslim names in Belagavi and other districts had been targeted. The source material does not state the inquiry’s timetable or its eventual findings.
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