Police have disclosed criminal cases in Karnataka over alleged misuse of Form-7 applications seeking removal of voters, including Muslims, from electoral rolls. The October 2 accounts mark a substantive development beyond the chief minister’s earlier demand for investigation: cases have been registered, although the underlying complaints describe earlier events.
The Times of India’s local report says Belagavi Market police registered a case on September 30 against BJP functionary Ravi Patil and others. The complaint alleges an attempt to remove 198 eligible Muslim voters through false information and forged documents. Belagavi MP Jagadish Shettar criticised the FIR, arguing that party workers should not face cases for raising objections during the revision exercise.
PTI’s October 2 dispatch reports a separate October 1 FIR in Bidar naming 32 people after a complainant alleged that applications wrongly described 3,244 voters as shifted or absent. It also describes a Mysuru case involving allegations about a family and 28 other voters. These figures refer to complaints about proposed removals, not a verified total of names deleted.
TV9 Hindi reports that electoral authorities have directed action against knowingly false applications after an inquiry. Separately, BJP state president B. Y. Vijayendra rejected the chief minister’s broader allegation of a party-led mass-deletion conspiracy and said the party would contest FIRs in court, according to ANI’s report carried by Public TV. The police investigations must establish the facts; the reports do not establish criminal guilt.