Karnataka FIRs over alleged bulk Form-7 voter-deletion bids

Between 30 September and 1 October 2026, Karnataka police registered first information reports over alleged bulk Form-7 applications during the Special Intensive Revision. Neutral Politics checked The Hindu, The Indian Express, The New Indian Express, Hindustan Times, India Today, The Times of India in Hubballi, ABP Live carrying PTI, and the state chief electoral officer's circular of 1 October. The accounts were checked on 2 October 2026 (IST). This note was posted at 7:19 am IST on 3 October. The allegations are alleged. They are under investigation. An FIR is not a finding of guilt.

The Hindu counts five FIRs. Its story is timed at 7:00 am IST on 2 October. The Indian Express counts the three attached to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar's memo. That story is timed at 9:44 am IST on 2 October. An earlier Hindu story, timed at 7:31 pm IST on 1 October, also uses a count of three. Both counts are in the reports. This note does not collapse them into one.

In Belagavi, booth-level agent Meerasab Sanadi complained. The FIR alleges that Dr Ravi Patil, who contested the 2023 Assembly election on a BJP ticket, and others tried to delete 198 voters using forged papers. The Times of India in Hubballi is timed at 6:47 pm IST on 1 October. India Today and PTI, as ABP Live carried it at 12:47 pm IST on 2 October, also report the Belagavi case. It is under investigation. No response from Patil was found in the reports checked. A Bhalki FIR, in Bidar, names 32 people over alleged bulk Form-7s concerning 3,244 voters, as The Hindu and The Indian Express report. Mysuru has two FIRs.

On 1 October the state's chief electoral officer directed electoral registration officers to act against applicants who knowingly make false declarations, after an inquiry under Rule 20, and under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The New Indian Express story is timed at 8:16 pm IST on 1 October. The circular names no party and no person. Hindustan Times reports the same direction.

What remains a claim, and not a verified finding, is the motive and the method beyond the FIR text. Complainants allege that Muslim voters were targeted. The chief minister alleges that pre-printed Form-7s were supplied to BJP and JD(S) workers. The BJP denies that. No arrests are reported.

Form 7, as the reports describe it, is the form that objects to a name on the roll. Filing it does not itself delete the name. The voter gets a notice and a hearing. A knowingly false declaration is punishable under Section 31 of the 1950 Act. That is the rule the circular points officers to. It is not a finding about any person named in these FIRs.

The cover is an illustrative stock photograph by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels, a desk with documents and stamps. It does not show these filings or these police stations.

What's next

What is not known yet is how the investigations end, whether anyone is arrested or charged, and who, if anyone, printed pre-printed forms.