Karnataka CM Shivakumar seeks Form 7 deletion data amid SIR survey

Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar has sought a constituency-wise account of objections filed to delete voters from the electoral rolls as a civil society audit of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) alleged that thousands of voters had been wrongly marked absent, shifted or dead.

“Every genuine voter’s right to vote must be protected,” Shivakumar said in a social media post on Wednesday night. He said he had asked the Chief Electoral Officer to provide details of Form 7 objections, including bulk applications and those submitted without the prescribed reasons or mandatory particulars needed to seek deletion of a voter.

Shivakumar also questioned the use of pre-printed voter details in objections. “The submission of objections on pre-printed voter details further raises concerns of a systematic attempt to subvert the SIR process,” he said.

Shivakumar said FIRs should be registered against people found involved in criminal activity connected with the revision. “I have also called for FIRs against those found involved in such criminal activities, as attempts to manipulate the electoral roll and communalise the process cannot be allowed. Copies of such FIRs should be sent to the Chief Secretary,” he said.

Shivakumar’s statement came on the day a delegation led by actor and activist Prakash Raj submitted a survey related to the SIR process to him at his Bengaluru residence. The report was prepared by the Anti SIR Alliance and Citizens’ Vote Protection Committee.

The 23-page survey is based on house-to-house verification at 100 polling booths in 25 districts. It alleged that voters who continued to live at their registered addresses had nevertheless been classified as absent, shifted or deceased.

The report said the exclusions had affected poorer and marginalised communities, including Dalits, Adivasis, nomadic groups and Muslims, as well as women. It called for further verification of deletions and restoration of names found to have been wrongly removed. The audit cited one Bengaluru locality where 826 of 1,300 residents were classified as shifted even though they have continued to live at the same addresses and had submitted their enumeration forms. It also recorded cases in which living voters were listed as dead.

According to the report, 1.08 crore voters were placed in the ‘absent, shifted, dead, duplicate and others (ASDDO)’ categories during the revision. The figure included 65.45 lakh classified as shifted, 15.17 lakh as absent, 16.39 lakh as deceased, 7.09 lakh as duplicate and 3.83 lakh under other categories.

The civil society survey said Bengaluru saw a 43.6% reduction in its draft electoral roll, from 1.11 crore voters to 48.48 lakh. Official SIR data had put 46.88 lakh Bengaluru voters in the ASDDO categories.

The report also questioned the 43.81 lakh notices issued over discrepancies in voter records. It said 23.45 lakh of the notices concerned voters whose names could not be linked to the 2002 electoral roll, while 20.35 lakh related to logical discrepancies.

The survey was released as concerns over Form 7 applications seeking voter deletions continued in parts of Karnataka. In Nittur (B) in Bidar’s Bhalki Assembly constituency, more than 500 such applications were reported across four polling stations. Residents alleged that the applications carried their voter details but had been submitted by people who did not live in the village.

There was also a discrepancy in official data on Form 7 applications. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer had reported 67,307 applications in draft roll data, while another data set recorded 61,130 applications received and processed. Officials said the difference of about 6,000 required verification.

The audit covered 100 polling booths out of more than 50,000 in Karnataka and therefore represents a sample of the revision rather than a statewide verification of every deletion.