Addressing a press conference at his home office, Shivakumar alleged that pre-printed Form 7 applications carrying voters’ names, addresses and EPIC numbers were being supplied to the BJP and allied party workers for seeking deletion of voters.

Addressing a press conference at his home office, Shivakumar alleged that pre-printed Form 7 applications carrying voters’ names, addresses and EPIC numbers were being supplied to the BJP and allied party workers for seeking deletion of voters.

Addressing a press conference at his home office, Shivakumar alleged that pre-printed Form 7 applications carrying voters’ names, addresses and EPIC numbers were being supplied to the BJP and allied party workers for seeking deletion of voters.

Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday alleged a “big conspiracy” to delete eligible voters from the electoral rolls through bulk filing of Form 7 applications during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

Addressing a press conference at his home office, Krishna, in Bengaluru, Shivakumar alleged that pre-printed Form 7 applications carrying voters’ names, addresses and EPIC numbers were being supplied to the BJP and allied party workers for seeking deletion of voters.

He questioned how political workers obtained such detailed voter data.

“Who gave this data? Who is doing this?” he asked, alleging that the exercise was aimed particularly at minority, Dalit, Scheduled Tribe and backward-class voters.

Shivakumar alleged that in more than 70 per cent of the places identified by his team, BJP workers had submitted Form 7 applications in bulk. He cited examples of individuals allegedly filing dozens or hundreds of applications, including one person submitting 84 forms and another 92.

He also referred to cases in Babaleshwar, Vijayapura, Bhalki, Mudigere and other constituencies. In Babaleshwar, he claimed, around 1,600 Form 7 applications had been submitted and subsequently taken back after election officials questioned them. In Vijayapura district, he put the figure at more than 15,000.

The CM said bulk applications were also reported in constituencies represented by ministers and alleged that thousands of forms had been filed within a few days, particularly between September 22 and 24.

Shivakumar also pointed to cases where, he claimed, BJP leaders or workers had acknowledged submitting applications. He said he had FIRs, complaints and documents relating to several cases and would place them before the Election Commission (EC).

He demanded that Booth Level Officers, Electoral Registration Officers, and Deputy Commissioners file complaints wherever electoral offences were detected. He said he had sought constituency-wise data from the EC and instructed the Chief Secretary to obtain the relevant information.

The CM headed to the State Election Commission after the briefing to raise these issues. Before leaving, he said, “I will not come back from the Election Commission office till he orders an inquiry.”

He alleged that the involvement of pre-printed forms with voter-specific details raised questions about the source of the data and called for a criminal investigation, hinting at a possible nexus between agencies handling poll data and the BJP.

Shivakumar said the government would examine the legal aspects and conduct its own investigation, but maintained that the EC had a duty to act against those responsible for any electoral offence.

On Wednesday, he met actor Prakash Raj and other members of civil society groups at his residence and received their report on a recent ground investigation into the SIR exercise, which flagged several alleged flaws in the revision process in Karnataka.

After a briefing meeting with CEO V. Anbukkumar at the State Election Commission, the CM and his cabinet colleagues sat outside Anbukkumar's office demanding action. Shivakumar has also cancelled all his schedules, possibly to ramp up his attack against the EC.

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