Karnataka BJP leader booked over alleged bid to delete names of 198 ‘Muslim voters’ | India News
NEW DELHI: 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 through Form-7 applications during the ongoing SIR process, police said on Friday, as cited by news agency PTI.Police said the case was registered at Belagavi Market police station on September 30 based on a complaint by Meerasab Sanadi, a Booth Level Agent for Ward No. 12 in the Belagavi North Assembly constituency.At least two FIRs have so far been registered over alleged “SIR irregularities”, including one in Mysuru against local BJP leaders and others, with the complainant alleging a “conspiracy” to get his, his family’s and other members of the “Muslim community’s votes deleted during the SIR process and thereby, hurting the religious sentiments of the community and creating disturbance in society”.The FIR has been registered under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 336(3) (forgery), 336(4) (forgery intended to harm reputation), 353 (statements conducing to public mischief), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 3(5) (common intention), 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause a riot) and 190 (liability of members of an unlawful assembly for offences committed in pursuit of its common object) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Police said further investigation is underway.According to the FIR, the complainant said he was assisting the Booth Level Officer (BLO) in the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and helping verify voter details.He alleged that on September 22, around 2.30 pm, the accused, including Patil, Shankar Beerappa Naik and Pashant Deepak Mundinmani, along with 20 to 25 others, allegedly assembled with the intention of targeting voters and conspired to have their names removed from the electoral roll.The accused allegedly prepared forged documents and submitted them to the BLO, falsely claiming that they were genuine documents issued by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), the complainant alleged. He further alleged that the Form-7 applications submitted with the purportedly fake documents included the names of 198 voters, including him and his family members.“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.Form 7 is the prescribed application form for filing an objection to the proposed inclusion or deletion of a name from the existing electoral roll.In another such case in Bidar, 40-year-old businessman and Bhalki voter 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.
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According to the FIR, Ahmed alleged that the applications were submitted without obtaining authenticated documents from the affected voters and that their signatures were forged with the intention of getting their names deleted from the electoral roll.Following his complaint, police registered an FIR on October 1, naming 32 people as accused in connection with the alleged irregularities.Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar, along with his Cabinet colleagues and MLAs, staged a sit-in outside the office of Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukkumar on Thursday, demanding registration of an FIR over alleged “electoral fraud” during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls.
