Karnataka Chief Minister says visit to election office was to protect voters

Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said on Saturday that he and several Ministers had visited the Chief Electoral Officer’s office to protect voters whose names were proposed for deletion under the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. His statement followed allegations by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders that the Ministers had staged a dharna at the office.

Mr. Shivakumar denied the allegation, saying the group had gone to make an appeal concerning Form 7 and proposed deletions. “I cannot place demands before Constitutional bodies, I can only make requests,” he told reporters in Periyapatna.

He added that authorities could file a case against him if he had done anything wrong, as alleged by BJP leaders. The Chief Minister said he and his Cabinet colleagues waited for officials to arrive, but did not stage a sit-in. According to his account, officials requested two days to examine the complaints.

Mr. Shivakumar said the delegation wanted immediate action and therefore remained at the office while the issue was considered. He said the officials subsequently assured them that the complaints would be examined.

The dispute concerns the electoral-roll revision and the use of Form 7, which is associated in the report with requests for deletion. The source material does not specify how many voters were affected or identify the particular constituencies involved. The Chief Minister’s comments were made during a visit to Periyapatna in Mysuru district.

No response from the BJP leaders who made the allegations is included in the source material, and there is no reported decision by the electoral authorities on the complaints. Mr. Shivakumar’s account places the visit in the context of a political dispute over voter-list changes, with the Karnataka government seeking examination of proposed deletions by election officials.