One-fourth of forms seeking Karnataka voter deletions not available on portal for public scrutiny
An October 9 statement from the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer’s office says 1,10,654 Form 7 applications were received between June 16 and October 8; however, the official portal only showed 81,822 such applications; the CEO and the ECI have previously said details of all Form 7 applications would be made available for public scrutiny
As of October 8, 2026, one-fourth of the 29,000 Form 7 applications submitted in Karnataka to seek the deletion of names from electoral rolls remain unpublished on the State's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and Election Commission of India (ECI) websites for public scrutiny. Despite assurances from both authorities that all Form 7 applications would be available for public review, only 81,822 applications out of 110,654 received between June 16 and October 8 are accessible online, according to CEO V. Anbu Kumar's press statement.
The remaining 28,832 applications, equivalent to over a quarter of the total, lack public availability, making it unclear about their filing details, including the constituencies, filers, and objects. This lack of transparency raises concerns, especially following Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and his Cabinet colleagues' protest, which led to District Election Offices (DEOs) taking action following an inquiry.
Discrepancies have also been noted between the CEO's reported figures and the available data on the portal, with wide gaps at the district level. For instance, Bengaluru Rural reported 3,061 Form 7 applications but only 49 were accessible online, while Belagavi's 7,618 applications were reduced to 1,776. Despite requests for clarification, CEO Anbu Kumar remained unavailable for comment, leaving the issue unresolved.
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