FIR filed against Karnataka BJP leader over bid to delete 198 Muslim voters’ names

Belagavi (Karnataka): An FIR has been registered against Karnataka BJP leader Ravi Patil and others for allegedly attempting to get the names of 198 Muslim voters deleted from the electoral roll in Belagavi district using Form-7 applications during the ongoing SIR process, police said on Friday.

Also, at least three FIRs have been registered, including one in Mysuru against a local BJP leader and others following a complainant’s allegation of “conspiracy to get his, his family’s and other members of the Muslim community’s votes deleted and thereby, hurting religious sentiments and creating disturbance.

The case against Patil was registered at Belagavi Market police station following a complaint on September 30 by Meerasab Sanadi, who was working as a Booth Level Agent of BJP in Ward No 12 of the Belagavi North Assembly constituency, they said.

According to the FIR, the complainant alleged that while recently assisting the BLO on September 22, “the accused persons Patil, Shankar Beerappa Naik and Pashant Deepak Mundinmani, along with 20-25 others, allegedly came together with a malicious intention and conspired to target only voters belonging to the Muslim community.”

It was to delete the names of 198 voters and create fake documents and submit them to the BLO, falsely claiming that the documents were genuine and had been issued by the ERO, the complainant alleged.

In the complaint, he alleged that the Form-7 applications brought by the accused with fake documents also contained the names of him and his family members.

Form-7 is a voter application form for objection to the proposed inclusion/deletion of a name in the existing electoral roll.

“They allegedly exerted pressure on the BLO and made another person speak over the phone claiming to be the ERO and obtained his signature, thereby cheating the complainant and the voters,” the FIR said.

The FIR has been registered under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, police said.

In another such case reported in Bidar, 40-year-old businessman and voter from Bhalki, Mohammed Ateeq Ahmed, alleged in his complaint that 3,244 voters, including him, were falsely shown as “shifted/absent” through Form-7 applications during the SIR of electoral rolls.

Following his complaint, an FIR was registered on October 1, naming 32 accused persons in connection with the alleged irregularities.

In Mysuru, a complaint was lodged by Syed Hasarath Ulla, a social worker, who alleged that Form-7 applications were submitted claiming that he and his family members were not residing at their registered address, despite having lived there for several years.

Following the complaint, a case was registered at Narasimharaja police station against Harish Kumar C, Raghavendra M and Anil Thomas (BJP minority president), along with others, alleging that they had conspired to get his, his family’s and other members of the Muslim community’s votes deleted during the SIR process and thereby hurt the religious sentiments of the community and create disturbance in society.

In Ballari, an FIR was registered at Brucepet police station on October 1 following a complaint by Gautam S, a Congress party BLA for Ward No 23, against four people, including BJP BLA and Ballari City Corporation corporator Srinivas Motkar, Assistant Commissioner of Ballari City Corporation Nandish, BLO Sumalatha and Sharanabasava, alleging that they conspired to submit 7,561 Form-7 applications seeking deletion of voters’ names from the electoral roll during the ongoing SIR exercise.

Similar allegations regarding irregularities were also reported from Dakshina Kannada district, with Congress leader Rakshith Shivaram alleging that 279 Form-7 applications were submitted across 16 polling stations in the Belthangady constituency seeking deletion of voter names, including 82 applications targeting Muslim voters in Ujire, during the ongoing SIR.

However, no complaint has been registered in the matter yet.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress MLA Tanveer Sait on Friday alleged that as part of the ongoing SIR, a large number of Form-7 applications were submitted seeking to delete around 10,000 names of Muslim and Dalit voters from the electoral roll of his Narasimharaja Assembly constituency.