‘Plot to delete 15 lakh voters’: D K Shivakumar seeks probe into pre-printed Form 7s

“In Ballari, across two Assembly constituencies, 13,000 applications were submitted through Form 7 and then withdrawn. In Bijapur, excluding Babaleshwar, 13,000 applications were submitted and subsequently withdrawn with a request not to take action against them. We have provided documents and videos regarding the constituencies in Mysuru, Belagavi, and Balki. They contacted high-ranking officials. I will not disclose the details of the discussion. They have asked for time until tomorrow,” he said.

“They have requested a report from the Deputy Commissioner. If they do not trust our evidence, let them call for a report. Our fight will not stop until a serious investigation is ordered in this matter,” he said.

Our fight is for the sanctity of every vote and the integrity of our democratic process.

My Cabinet colleagues, MLAs and Congress leaders and I are here at the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, standing on behalf of all genuine voters and demanding immediate action on the… pic.twitter.com/4e7rhqccWI

— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) October 1, 2026

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Karnataka Congress chief B K Hariprasad said they will continue the protest until an investigation is ordered. “They should probe where the pre-printed Form 7s complete with details and names of voters came from,” he demanded.

At a press conference before submitting the memorandum, Shivakumar alleged a large-scale conspiracy across Karnataka to disenfranchise legitimate voters. “This is happening in more than 70 per cent of the polling booths. Various BJP leaders are submitting Form 7s with voter details printed in advance,” he said, accusing some agencies of providing confidential voter data to BJP workers.

Shivakumar claimed there is a wider plot to delete 15 to 16 lakh genuine voters from the electoral rolls. He noted that nearly one crore voters had already been removed from the draft roll, while 43 lakh notices were issued during the notice phase of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Bulk filings at specific constituencies

CM Shivakumar detailed constituency-specific numbers for bulk filings, including about 3,000 Form 7 applications in Belagavi North, 6,259 in Mudigere, 1,373 in Babaleshwar, 1,200 in Narasimha Raj, and 2,285 in Bhalki, along with similar submissions in other Assembly segments across the state.

According to Shivakumar, the bulk submissions occurred primarily over a three-day window between September 22 and 24, specifically targeting voters belonging to minority, backward, and Scheduled Caste communities. He confirmed that multiple FIRs have already been registered.

DK Shivakumar has sought a probe into bulk Form 7 applications in Karnataka, alleging a conspiracy to delete genuine voters from electoral rolls (Express photo/Special arrangement).

“It is the duty of the Election Commission of India to file an FIR immediately in connection with the bulk submission of Form 7s,” Shivakumar said, calling on the election authority to trace who printed and distributed the documents.

“I have information that BJP leaders in Delhi and Karnataka are printing these forms and distributing them to their party cadre,” he alleged.

He added that three separate FIRs were registered on Wednesday and Thursday across Mysuru, Belagavi, and Bidar, while demanding that the Election Commission initiate criminal proceedings against individuals who submitted Form 7s in bulk.

Viral videos and BJP leaders’ admissions

The memorandum submitted to the CEO pointed out that Dr Ravi B Patil, the defeated BJP candidate from Belagavi North, publicly acknowledged that Form 7 applications were filed in large numbers through his associates.

“Separately, Jadav of the Belagavi District Yuva BJP Morcha has also publicly acknowledged that Form 7 applications were filed in large numbers through his associates. The video recordings of these statements have been widely circulated across the state and are enclosed for reference and investigation,” the memorandum read. Video clips showing pre-printed Form 7s submitted at Belagavi had earlier circulated widely on social media platforms.

The more we dig into Karnataka’s SIR, the murkier it gets. The pattern emerging around bulk Form 7 filings is nothing but electoral fraud hatched by the BJP-JD(S)-ECI nexus to drop nearly 60 lakh voters from the electoral rolls in Karnataka.

Thousands of Form 7 applications have…

— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) October 1, 2026

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The memorandum requested the CEO to “undertake a thorough, impartial and time-bound investigation into the entire matter”. Specifically, it urged the Election Commission to examine booth-wise and constituency-wise patterns of Form 7 submissions, investigate individuals filing unusually high volumes of applications, inspect their relationship with the voters concerned, trace the source of pre-printed voter details, and probe any unauthorised access to or misuse of official electoral data.

This was the second memorandum given to the CEO on Thursday, following a similar submission earlier in the day by Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rizwan Arshad.