A court in Ballari has authorised police to search the office of BJP booth level agent T Srinivas Mothkur over a list of 7,561 voters whose names he sought to have reverified during Karnataka’s electoral roll revision, according to an officer familiar with the investigation.
They should not be arrested, harassed or assaulted. If this continues, we will launch a statewide agitation.” Because the voters’ registration status could not be established merely on the basis of the complaint, that request was also rejected.
Srinivas, the BJP’s BLA 1 and Opposition leader of the Ballari City Corporation, is accused in an FIR filed after Congress BLA 1 Goutham S approached the police. Investigators plan to examine records and other material relating to the preparation and submission of the Form 7 applications at Srinivas’s office on Talur Road, the officer said. The case began with a September 21 representation by Srinivas to election officials, seeking action on 7,561 voter entries in the Ballari City Assembly constituency. Srinivas returned the next day and sought to submit Form 7 objections against the same voters, saying he was ready to proceed against the entries in the draft electoral roll. In his September 21 letter to the Ballari City Corporation, Srinivas said he had tried to submit the Form 7 applications through the concerned Booth Level Officers, but many had refused to accept them. Home Minister Priyank Kharge said those who knowingly submit false information through Form 7 would face legal action.
He said the voters had shifted residence, were registered elsewhere or were absent. Election officials rejected the request, saying the claims were not backed by documents or other evidence, according to offiicals. A few BLOs had accepted the applications, he said, while he took the remaining ones directly to the Electoral Registration Officer. The BLA was also required to submit a list of the applications and a declaration that the information had been personally verified and was correct, the ERO said. “If you misuse Form 7, if you possess pre printed Form 7s in bulk, if you declare people who are alive as dead, and people who are residing in a particular place as non residents, then you will have to face the consequences,” Kharge said. Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa said: “No legal action should be taken against our workers under any circumstances.
