Mangaluru: The Election Commission should register suo motu criminal cases against those submitting bulk applications under Form 7 seeking deletion of eligible citizens’ names from electoral rolls and initiate judicial…

Mangaluru: The Election Commission should register suo motu criminal cases against those submitting bulk applications under Form 7 seeking deletion of eligible citizens’ names from electoral rolls and initiate judicial proceedings to ensure stringent punishment, demanded KPCC Publicity Committee vice-president, chief coordinator and spokesperson Sudhir Kumar Murolli. Addressing a press conference in Mangaluru, Murolli said preparation and revision of electoral rolls were crucial components of the election process and that obstructing the process or furnishing false information constituted an offence. He urged the Election Commission to direct all tahsildars and district election officers to register cases directly against those submitting bulk applications instead of waiting for complaints from political parties or members of the public.Murolli alleged that the Election Commission, allegedly acting under the influence of the BJP-led Union government, was attempting to create two categories of citizens in the country in the name of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.“One category would comprise citizens who have the right to vote and the other those deprived of their voting rights,” he alleged.Bengaluru: BLA booked over 136 ‘forged’ Form-7 voter deletion applicationsMurolli alleged that a detailed examination of Form 7 applications seeking deletion of names from electoral rolls showed that several applications had been filed by BJP workers or leaders of organisations affiliated with the party.He claimed that a systematic attempt was being made to target voters belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and minority communities, including Muslims and Christians.As an example, he alleged that a BJP mandal president in one taluk had submitted 243 Form 7 applications in bulk. BJP leaders, he alleged, were distancing themselves from the matter after the issue came to light.Murolli cited the case of Wazir Khan, a government schoolteacher from Koppa who is also serving as a polling officer at the Kattemane booth in the Koppa taluk of Sringeri Assembly constituency.He alleged that a Form 7 application had been submitted seeking deletion of Khan’s name on the false ground that he had shifted from the area, despite him being born and brought up in Koppa.He said his own name in Mangaluru had been mapped to a booth in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru and that he had to make repeated efforts for weeks to get the error rectified.

Source: Deccan Herald