Karnataka court refuses to lift stay on probe into bulk voter-deletion forms

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday refused to vacate its interim order staying further investigation in criminal cases registered against the BJP's booth-level agents (BLAs) accused of allegedly submitting fraudulent Form-7 applications during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

However, the court directed that electronic records with the Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) and the Form-7 applications be preserved, citing the state government's concern about the "possibility of electronic evidence being destroyed".

Justice Anant Ramanath Hegde modified his interim order and said, "The court is of the view that electronic records in the office of ERO relating to the period starting from applications that are said to be filed by the petitioners till date be preserved and given to the investigation officer. The original Form 7, filed before ERO, shall also be preserved till further orders."

Justice Hegde passed the interim order on October 9 while hearing petitions filed by BLAs G S Vasanthalakshmi and Deepak Singh R. "The competent authority has not taken any decision on the submitted Form 7. It is submitted that before a decision is taken, a procedure is to be followed as prescribed under the rules. This court is of the prima facie view that before a decision is taken on Form 7, prima facie there cannot be an investigation. Hence the proceedings are stayed till the next date of hearing," he then said.

'Earlier, ECI was working to include every voter'

Shetty argued that "people have come on the streets" because of what the BJP had done. "Earlier, the Election Commission of India (ECI) was working to ensure that every voter is included in the electoral rolls," he said.

"Our case is that BLA agents of a particular political party only filed Form 7 in order to delete voters of the minority community. They want to take away voting rights of genuine voters," he further submitted.

Form 7 is used for making an "objection for proposed inclusion/deletion of name in existing roll". Voters can file Form 7 if they want to delete their own name or object to any other voter in their constituency.

'Other BLAs can raise objection on Form-7 applications'

The judge then pointed out that booth-level officers (BLO) could reject Form-7 applications after verification, adding that the person concerned would also be informed of the decision.

The judge also indicated that the police could not conduct a parallel investigation into the bulk submission of Form-7 applications because the ECI has permitted filing of the applications. Under the statute, only the ECI can adjudicate on the applications' validity, he added.

Shetty replied that the ECI does not have the power to investigate charges of impersonation, conspiracy, and fabrication. He further said there were signature mismatches in several applications and that Muslims and Christians were targeted.

Senior advocates Arun Shyam and Vivek Subba Reddy, appearing for the BLAs, argued that BLAs were entitled to file the applications and that only EROs can decide on their validity. They also pointed out that other BLAs can also file objections to the applications and the EROs will have to consider them.

Shetty stated that the bulk submission of voter-deletion applications in respect of a particular community "is a conspiracy which needs to be investigated". He sought to assure the court that no arrest would be made or chargesheet be filed without its permission.

Allegations against BJP's booth-level agents

The police complaint against Vasanthalakshmi alleges that during the SIR in her ward, Form 7 applications were submitted showing that 778 voters were absent or had permanently shifted. Singh allegedly submitted similar Form-7 objections in respect of 136 voters in his ward.

The complainant alleges that the Form-7 applications submitted by Vasanthalakshmi contained forged signatures.

The police have registered multiple cases since September 30 against BLAs who filed Form-7 applications in constituencies such as Bhalki, Bableshwar, Belgaum Uttar, Ballari, and other places.

Incidents of mass submission of Form-7 applications, which appear to have been auto-populated, were also reported from various places across the state.