Priyank Kharge accuses BJP of deleting minority and SC voters in Karnataka revision

Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge has accused the BJP and the RSS of turning the state's ongoing voter roll update into a coordinated campaign to disenfranchise Scheduled Caste and minority voters.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Kharge claimed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has been manipulated into what he called a "Sangh Intensive Revision". He alleged that more than 1.08 crore people have already been excluded from Karnataka's voter lists, with another 43.8 lakh individuals served notices over alleged logical discrepancies.

"Now BJP leaders are executing mass deletions under this cover," Kharge said. "How is it that only Scheduled Caste and minority votes are being deleted?"

The battle over Form-7

The dispute revolves around the use of Form-7, the official Election Commission document used to object to a name on the electoral roll or request its deletion.

Congress leaders, including DK Shivakumar, have accused the BJP of trying to strike eligible voters off the registers by submitting fraudulent, bulk deletion requests. Kharge pointed to what he described as pre-printed forms being submitted by individuals who are not authorized booth-level agents.

"They should answer where they are getting pre-printed forms from," Kharge said. "Why are their karyakartas, who are not booth-level agents, going and asking for bulk deletion of voters?"

In response, the state's Chief Electoral Officer has ordered election officials to take legal action against anyone knowingly submitting false claims or objections on these forms. Police cases have already been registered across Karnataka, and investigations are underway.

BJP demands cases be dropped

The BJP has strongly rejected the allegations of manipulation, maintaining that filing Form-7 applications is a routine and legal part of cleaning up the electoral roll to remove duplicate or deceased voters.

On Saturday, Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra led a party delegation to meet the state's Director General of Police, MA Saleem, in Bengaluru. Vijayendra demanded the immediate withdrawal of police cases registered against BJP workers, claiming they were filed under intense political pressure from the Congress-led government.

"We will not sit quietly," Vijayendra said, warning that the party would launch protests outside police stations if the cases were not dropped. He accused DK Shivakumar and the state government of attempting to use the police department as a political tool.

Clashes over the Election Commission

The political row has also triggered a secondary dispute over who speaks for the electoral authorities. After the BJP objected to a Congress delegation visiting the state's Chief Electoral Officer, Kharge questioned why the opposition was behaving like a protective shield for the independent body.

"How does it concern them if we have gone to the Chief Electoral Officer's office?" Kharge asked. "Why is the BJP acting like a spokesperson of the Election Commission of India or the CEO?"

With both sides refusing to back down, the exercise designed to clean up Karnataka's voter registers has instead opened a major front in the state's ongoing political warfare.