99% of Form-7 applications target minority voters, alleges Karnataka Advocate General in High Court

Bengaluru: Advocate General K. Shashikiran Shetty has told the Karnataka High Court that the alleged mass filing of Form-7 applications to delete voters’ names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was a pre-planned act, with 99 per cent of the applications reportedly targeting voters from minority communities.

Arguing on behalf of the state government, Shetty said there had been deliberate attempts to remove voters’ names from the electoral rolls and that an investigation was necessary to establish the facts behind the alleged irregularities.

The submissions were made on Wednesday during the hearing of petitions filed by Booth Level Agents (BLAs) G.S. Vasanthalakshmi and R. Deepak Singh, who have sought the quashing of FIRs registered against them over allegations that they submitted large numbers of Form-7 applications containing false information to remove voters’ names during the SIR process. Justice Anant Ramanath Hegde presided over the hearing.

The Advocate General alleged that the voters concerned were residing at their respective addresses when BLAs and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) visited homes during the SIR exercise. Despite this, Form-7 applications were allegedly submitted with the intention of deleting their names from the electoral rolls.

He said an investigation was also necessary to prevent the destruction of electronic records. Reports of inquiries conducted by the Election Commission and the police would be placed before the court, allowing it to examine the findings and take an appropriate decision, he submitted.

Shetty further alleged that a political party had acted in coordination with the Election Commission and argued that the purpose behind the alleged actions needed to be established.

Seeking the removal of the interim stay on the investigation, he assured the court that the petitioners would not be arrested if the investigation were allowed to proceed. He also said the police would not file a chargesheet before the trial court without the High Court’s permission.

After hearing both sides, the single-judge bench extended its earlier interim order staying the investigation against the petitioners.

The court also directed the Electoral Registration Officers to preserve electronic records relating to the Form-7 applications submitted by the petitioners and transfer them to the investigating officers if necessary.

The High Court reserved its order on the state government’s interim application seeking the removal of the stay on the investigation.

During the hearing, the bench orally observed that every voter had responsibilities and noted that the SIR exercise was being debated across the country.

The court questioned the state government on whether people affected by Form-7 applications had an opportunity to file objections.

It also asked whether the police or the election officials legally empowered to do so should determine whether a voter resided at a particular address.

The bench further questioned whether action could be taken after the election authorities had made their decision, and whether a parallel police investigation was necessary.