Actor and activist Prakash Raj has alleged that Form 7 applications are being misused during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka to target Muslim voters.
Speaking in Hosapete on Thursday during his 10 day SIR Resistance Tour, Raj claimed that attempts were being made to remove the names of around 21,000 Muslim voters across the state.
He described the alleged misuse of Form 7 as “Operation Lotus through Form 7” and called for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign.
Raj Cites Belagavi Incident
Raj referred to an incident in Belagavi North constituency where around 200 Form 7 applications were submitted at a polling booth seeking deletion of voters’ names.
“All the 200 names were of Muslims,” Raj alleged.
According to Raj, the voter names and other details on the forms were pre printed, while the name and phone number of the person seeking deletion were handwritten.
He alleged that when Booth Level Officers questioned people who had brought the applications, they claimed they had come from the corporation.
“By then our people had reached. The forms had come from a local BJP leader who had contested the Assembly election. He said they had been received from ‘above’,” Raj said.
He further alleged that the forms carried the signature of a local BJP activist, who later claimed he did not know about them.
The allegations have not been independently established. Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Roshan said no voter had been deleted on the basis of the objections submitted at the polling station and that the administration would investigate the matter. He said complaints had been received from representatives of different political parties over bulk objections.
BJP MLA Rejects Allegations
The Belagavi controversy has also led to a political dispute between the Congress and BJP.
Congress leaders have alleged that bulk Form 7 applications were being used to target minority voters. BJP MLA Abhay Patil rejected the allegations and said his communication to election officials only sought verification of a report submitted by a Booth Level Agent.
“I have clearly written that the report submitted by BLA 2 should be verified and, if any voters are found to be bogus, their names should be deleted,” Patil said. He also denied referring to Rohingyas, Pakistanis or Muslims in his letter.
Raj Seeks Evidence From Voters
Raj said his team would collect complaints and evidence from polling booths during the 10 day tour. He urged voters to record discrepancies on their phones and share them with his team and on social media.
He said a report containing the complaints and evidence would be prepared by September 30 and presented at a press conference before being submitted to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his ministers.
Raj also questioned figures relating to Form 8 applications and new voters in Karnataka. Referring to figures he attributed to the Chief Electoral Officer, he claimed that around 40 lakh Form 8 applications had been received and 11 lakh new voters had been added before the SIR.
“How did 40 lakh people suddenly realise that their details or addresses had to be corrected? And how did 11 lakh new voters come into the rolls? Who are they?” he asked.
He also claimed that around 13 crore voters had been deleted nationally during the SIR process. That figure was presented by Raj as an allegation and was not independently verified in the reports reviewed.
“Don’t be scared. If you are affected, tell us. We are with you,” Raj said.
The Election Commission has previously said that notices issued during the SIR process do not themselves mean that a voter’s name has been deleted. Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer has described the notice process as a way of communicating with voters for verification.
