Karnataka chief minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday called for a criminal investigation into what he described as a coordinated effort to remove voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), accusing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers of submitting applications targeting minorities, Dalits and Scheduled Tribes.
He said applications were submitted seeking the deletion of 4.5 million voters. He added that 14,000 such applications were filed in Vijayapura alone. He alleged that the bulk applications were filed between September 22 and 24 and those submitting them on behalf of other people were BJP workers. Shivakumar said in several cases, the names, Electors Photo Identity Card numbers and other particulars of the voters proposed for deletion appear to have been pre-printed on the Form 7 applications. Shivakumar called on Congress booth-level agents, legislators, party workers and voters to provide information about Form 7 applications allegedly filed to remove their own names or those of others. The Indian Express last week reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections to decisions taken in the ECI’s name at least 14 times over 10 months. The reported disagreements involved changes to Form 6 for the inclusion of names in the electoral roll, the centralisation of controls in Delhi, voter deletion appeals in West Bengal, and the failure to add eligible voters in Goa.
“There are many instances of individuals filing multiple applications in different names for deleting voters. He called it the BJP and ally Janata Dal (Secular)’s big conspiracy to delete five to six million voters. He added that the details of objectors were subsequently filled. “As your chief minister, as a public servant, I’m trying to protect your votes, but I feel I have failed. I have to accept this. It alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah were treating the Election Commission of India (ECI) as their puppets. The ECI has faced renewed scrutiny over the SIR across states.
Minorities, Dalits and tribals are being targeted to remove their names from the electoral roll under SIR,” Shivakumar said. Shivakumar said cases had been registered in Belagavi, Bhalki, Mysuru and other places over what he called illegal attempts to remove names from the electoral roll. “BJP has printed large numbers of Form 7 to exclude votes,” he said. “If this is happening in the constituencies of our lawmakers, it indicates that a major conspiracy is taking place across the state,” he alleged.
Shivakumar wrote the letter a day after the Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Wednesday revived its demand to replace electronic voting machines (EVMs) with paper ballots and announced a six-point programme, including public rallies and a petition to the President, against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for allegedly manipulating voter rolls during the SIR to subvert electoral integrity.
