BJP threatens agitation over Form 7 cases across K’taka

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) threatened a statewide protest on Sunday if police file legal cases against its workers involved in filing Form 7 applications during Karnataka’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa made the threat after meeting the Director General and Inspector General of Police M A Saleem, and requested protection for the workers facing police action.

Yediyurappa alleged that the police were following the orders of Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and warned that the party would launch a statewide agitation if legal action continued. The BJP’s concern stems from the police registering another case in Bengaluru linked to the Form 7 controversy. In the case, Congress leader Anoop Iyengar complained about 778 applications seeking deletion of voters from the Malleswaram Assembly constituency.

The Vyalikaval police have arrested a BJP member, G S Vasanthalakshmi, as accused No. 1, while another individual associated with an RSS wing is listed as an unidentified accused. Both are accused of attempting to delete voters who had already voted, by describing them as having shifted residence or being ineligible.

BJP official B Y Vijayendra, the state BJP president, defended the submission of Form 7 applications, stating that the validity of each application should be determined by the Election Commission, not the police. The BJP’s warning follows instructions from Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukkumar to Electoral Registration Officers across all 224 constituencies to take action against applicants who provide false information in Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8.