Five days after the Election Commission directed Karnataka’s election officials to examine false Form 7 applications and take legal action where required, eight police cases have been registered over alleged attempts to delete voters from electoral rolls.
However, the FIR details showed that none were initiated by an Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), creating a gap between the police investigations and action under the electoral law governing false declarations.
Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, makes knowingly making a false statement or declaration during the preparation, revision or correction of electoral rolls a punishable offence, carrying up to one year in jail, a fine, or both.
People aware of the matter said an EC or ERO complaint is not a blanket legal requirement for every police FIR arising from a Form 7 dispute. Police can investigate other alleged criminal offences independently.
State chief electoral officer V Anbukkumar said every Form 7 applicant makes a declaration and that the ERO must act if an inquiry establishes that it was false. “The declaration, as per Section 31, is signed by the objector or the applicant. So, if that is in question, the ERO has to take necessary action as per law. That has been communicated to the EROs, and they will take action,” he said, adding that the eight police cases registered so far were based on complaints by individuals and political workers.
Home minister Priyank Kharge warned that those who provide false information to the Election Commission through Form 7 could face imprisonment for one year. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Kharge said legal provisions would not be invoked without reason. “BJP workers are submitting Form 7 applications claiming that people have died. But members of the public have complained saying, ‘I have not died, I am alive,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Home minister Priyank Kharge warned that those who provide false information to the Election Commission through Form 7 could face imprisonment for one year. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Kharge said legal provisions would not be invoked without reason. “BJP workers are submitting Form 7 applications claiming that people have died. But members of the public have complained saying, ‘I have not died, I am alive,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}However, a senior IPS officer said that police investigations can continue independently under criminal provisions cited in individual cases. These could include allegations of cheating, forgery, impersonation or conspiracy. “But establishing those offences is different from establishing an offence under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act,” the officer said.
A rejected Form 7 application, the officer said, does not automatically amount to a criminal offence. “Section 31 requires the statement or declaration to be false and the person making it to know or believe that it was false, or not believe it to be true,” the officer said.
The ERO can examine the application, verify the grounds for deletion, hear the voter and objector, and determine whether the declaration was false and knowingly made. “Based on the officer’s complaint, a case for false declaration can be filed,” the officer added.
The CEO’s office received 91,278 Form 7 applications between June 16 and October 4. Anbukkumar said EROs had been instructed to examine allegations of false declarations and act if wrongdoing was established.
The eight FIRs have been registered in Bhalki, Belagavi North, Ballari, Mysuru and Bengaluru. They involve allegations of bulk Form 7 filings, use of voters’ details without their knowledge and forged signatures.
The latest FIR was registered at Jayanagar police station on October 5 after former Jayanagar MLA and Karnataka Pradesh Mahila Congress president Sowmya Reddy complained that 5,698 Form 7 applications had been filed seeking deletion of voters from the constituency. The complaint said the applications claimed the voters had permanently shifted from Jayanagar.
Reddy alleged that the voter details of C Ramesh and his wife Roopa were used without their knowledge and that some applications carried forged signatures. The FIR names BJP booth level agents Ramakrishna and Yogesh and others. The allegations have not been established and police are investigating.
A separate Malleswaram FIR flagged 778 Form 7 applications. The complaint alleged that voters who continued to live at their registered addresses had been listed for deletion. Police are examining the applications and how they were submitted. Another FIR flagging 136 Form-7 submissions was registered in Subedar Palya.
The question is what happens when police investigate alleged false Form 7 declarations before the election machinery completes its own inquiry. The Aland voter deletion case of 2023 provides a precedent.
Between December 2022 and February 2023, 6,018 Form 7 applications were submitted in Aland. An election department inquiry found 24 genuine and 5,994 submitted using the credentials of voters without their knowledge.
“The inquiry began after officials found an application seeking deletion of a voter who was alive and still living in the constituency. The Returning Officer of Aland, Mamata Kumari, subsequently approached the police, leading to an FIR. The Election Commission later said the FIR had been registered by the ERO after an inquiry into the suspicious applications. The sequence is different in the present cases. Individuals and political workers approached the police first, while ERO inquiries ordered by the Election Commission are still underway,” the officer quoted above explained.
Meanwhile, BJP state president BY Vijayendra on Tuesday reiterated the party’s allegation that the ECI was being targeted to hide the failures of the Congress government in Karnataka. He asserted that the BJP would not be intimidated by police cases against those filing Form 7.
“I am not here to defend the Election Commission. But the Congress government should not try to intimidate our workers by filing cases against them,” he told reporters in Dharwad.
Kharge however alleged that BJP workers had submitted replies to Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) and said those matters should also be brought to the Election Commission’s notice. “Let them also explain where the BJP workers got the pre-printed forms. They can file a complaint against us if they want,” Kharge said