SIR: BJP BLA sought Form-7 deletions, verification against 7,561 names in Ballari; FIR registered

Claiming that more than 7,500 electors were either “absent or had shifted,” a BJP-affiliated Booth Level Agent (BLA) attempted to first fill Form-7 applications and, after his claims were not accepted by the election authorities, again sought “revision” of their names by submitting objections, even though these electors figured in the draft electoral roll of Ballari City Assembly constituency.

In this regard, an FIR, the sixth in Karnataka regarding misuse of Form-7 (seeking deletions), was registered at the Brucepet police station on October 1 after a Congress BLA complained that T. Srinivas Mothkur, Opposition leader of Ballari City Corporation, also the BJP BLA-1, had sought deletion of the names of 7,561 electors. The FIR books the accused under Section 353 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, for “statements conducing to public mischief”.

Of the previous five FIRs, three including two in Belagavi and one in Mysuru, named BJP members as accused.

Repeated attempts

The FIR followed a series of attempts by Mr. Mothkur to submit the objections. On September 21, he wrote to the Ballari City Corporation saying that while he was trying to submit Form-7 applications through the BLOs concerned, many BLOs had refused to accept them and only a few had accepted them. He then took the remaining applications directly to the ERO, saying they related to booths where the BLOs had refused to accept them.

In its response the same day, election authorities from the Ballari City Corporation said Mr. Mothkur’s claims that the voters were already registered elsewhere, absent or permanently shifted “were not supported” by documents or other information. The ERO said that while BLAs were allowed to submit applications in bulk, they could submit no more than 10 applications to a BLO at a time or in a day. If a BLA submitted more than 30 applications during the claims and objections period, the ERO or AERO had to personally cross-verify them. The BLA was also required to submit a list of the applications along with a declaration that he had personally verified the particulars and was satisfied that they were correct, the ERO’s letter said.

Following this response, Mr. Mothkur made another attempt the following day. On September 22, he wrote to the election authorities saying that he was ready to submit objections against 7,561 voters in the draft electoral roll of Ballari City Assembly constituency. He enclosed the list of names and sought necessary action and completion of the revision of the electoral roll “at the earliest.” The election authorities again denied, arguing that it was not possible to verify the voters’ registration merely on the basis of the complaint.

Complaint and clarification

The repeated attempts to seek deletion of the names led to a complaint by Congress BLA Goutham S. He alleged that Mr. Mothkur had submitted Form-7 applications against the 7,561 electors and that at some polling stations, election officials had re-verified the names based on his objections. He also alleged that the majority of the names belonged to a minority community and that the BJP BLA was attempting to remove minority voters from the electoral roll.