Form 7 misused under BJP govt to delete voters en masse ahead of 2023 Karnataka polls: Priyank Kharge

The 'vote chori' trail in Aland is a shocking case of large-scale voter deletion, says Minister

Karnataka Minister for IT Priyank Kharge has alleged that Form 7 was misused under the previous BJP government to delete voters en masse ahead of the May 2023 Assembly elections in the State.

"The vote chori trail in Aland (in Kalaburagi district) is a shocking case of large-scale voter deletion," he said in a post on X.

Kharge's remarks followed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's press conference in Delhi on Thursday, where he cited Karnataka's example and claimed that votes of party supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of the elections.

Form 7 is an application for objecting inclusion of the name of the other person, or seeking deletion of one's own name, or seeking deletion of any other person’s name in the electoral rolls due to death or shifting.

Gandhi, earlier in the day, accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting "vote chors" and people who had destroyed democracy, and cited data from the Aland Assembly constituency to support his claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.

In the Aland Assembly segment, someone tried to delete 6,018 votes and got caught by coincidence, he said, alleging that the names of Congress voters were being deleted systematically.

In his post on X, Kharge said as many as 6,018 deletions were attempted using automated software and fake logins. He said, "Verification showed 5,994 were forged, only 24 genuine. As many as 2,494 voters were actually deleted before the fraud was caught. Strong Congress booths, especially with Dalit and minority voters, were targeted."

In one case, the Minister said 12 voters were deleted in just 14 minutes, pointing to a "sophisticated vote chori factory" at work.

In another case, the identity of a 63-year-old woman was misused to delete 12 voters. Noting that the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is investigating the case, had sent 18 letters to the Election Commission of India seeking IP logs, OTP trails, device IDs, and login details, he said that the Election Commission had refused to share the critical data.

Kharge said this raises serious questions. "Who approved these deletion records? Where is the OTP audit trail? When will deleted voters be restored? Why is the ECI refusing to cooperate with the CID? Who is the ECI trying to protect?"

He sought to know, "When the fraud is this clear, what more evidence is the ECI waiting for? Whom are they shielding?"