EC clarifies 84,900 Form-7 applications filed statewide
CH NEWS, BENGALURU Amid mounting political turbulence and high-stakes confrontations over electoral roll integrity, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka has released comprehensive district-wise statistics concerning Form-7 applications. The disclosure follows an intense political standoff on Thursday, during which Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and senior cabinet ministers staged a high-profile sit-in protest outside the CEO's office in Bengaluru, alleging a systematic conspiracy by opposition parties to disenfranchise millions of legitimate voters. The controversy centers on the statutory use of Form-7, the legal instrument utilized under electoral rules to object to the inclusion of names or to seek the deletion of entries from voter lists due to death, relocation, or disqualification. While the ruling administration claims that opposition party operatives have weaponized the form to execute mass, arbitrary deletions, election authorities have stepped in to provide empirical clarity through official data. The political flashpoint erupted when Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar convened an emergency press conference, backed by civil society figures including actor-activist Prakash Raj, to expose what he termed an organized disenfranchisement plot. According to the Chief Minister, opposition workers from the BJP and JD(S) engaged in a coordinated effort to purge between 5,000 and 10,000 eligible votes in targeted constituencies, citing localized spikes in applications across regions such as Babaleshwar, Bijapur, and Bhalki. "We have identified that official opposition workers have submitted hundreds of such Form-7 applications in their own names. In some instances, workers have admitted to their wrongdoing," Shivakumar asserted during the demonstration. He claimed that pre-printed application bundles were being deployed to systemically target voters, prompting the cabinet delegation to demand an immediate, high-level judicial and administrative inquiry. The protest was suspended only after the state election machinery committed to launching a formal review into the processing of objections. Rebutting claims of a massive statewide manipulation campaign involving millions of deleted votes, the CEO’s office published aggregate data revealing that a total of 84,900 Form-7 applications have been submitted across all districts between June 16 and October 1, 2026. Election officials noted that the volume of submissions across most districts remains well within normal administrative parameters, starkly contrasting with allegations of widespread, irregular en-masse purges.
