Bengaluru: Strongly defending cases registered against Form 7 applicants who allegedly made false claims seeking deletion of voters during the ongoing SIR of the electoral roll, Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday said that submitting such misinformation or false forms is a “criminal offence”.He also said that this offence attracts imprisonment of one year and a fine.
Alleging that BJP leaders and workers were submitting such false Form 7 applications, he claimed that it is nothing but a “centralised criminal conspiracy” against certain sections of society, and raised questions about the involvement of Election Commission officials in this.
Form-7 is a voter application form for objection to the proposed inclusion/ deletion of name in the existing electoral roll.
“Let them (BJP and JDS leaders) go and clarify to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on BJP workers giving in writing to the EROs or Tahsildars in Ballari, Bableshwar, Bhalki, Chikkamagaluru, that they are withdrawing thousands of Form 7s they submitted, by accepting their wrongdoing in several cases,” Kharge said in response to a question on NDA leaders meeting the CEO later on Monday.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, let the NDA leaders explain to the CEO as to why their party men were involved in such acts, how they get pre-printed forms, and why they were submitting thousands of Form 7s.
“Let them give any complaint against us (ruling Congress) to the CEO, and let their complaint be verified in accordance with law. But several BJP workers have admitted that the Form 7s and documents submitted by them were false and that they have committed a mistake; let this also be discussed with the CEO,” he added.
“There are similar formats in Hyderabad, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka. It is nothing but a centralised criminal conspiracy against certain sections of the society. Even after the SIR process being carried out, if this is being done — is this a Special Intensive Revision or Sangh Intensive Revision? Is RSS or BJP printing and giving forms?” he asked.
Further questioning where BJP workers get machine-readable voter lists, Kharge said, “if they are getting such accurately printed voters lists, it should be machine-readable.”
“So people from EC are also involved in this? Yesterday, a Supreme Court judge said that what is happening is wrong; it is sinful.
EC has also issued some guidelines. When BJP leaders go to the CEO, let them give clarification first and then speak about the Congress,” he added.
Recently, Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukkumar had directed Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to take action against applicants who knowingly make false claims seeking the deletion of voters using Form-7.
The directions came after Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, along with his cabinet and party colleagues, on Thursday staged a demonstration in front of the CEO’s office seeking legal action against those involved in such activities.
The CM had on Thursday claimed that BJP and JD(S) leaders had submitted bulk Form-7 applications in some constituencies. He alleged that pre-printed forms carrying voters’ names, EPIC numbers and booth details had been distributed among party workers.
Responding to a question on cases registered against alleged submission of false Form 7s, Kharge said, “They are all individual cases, and the police will have to take private cases. If someone goes and wrongly gives a Form 7 stating that I’m dead, should we not book cases against such false claims and those who give them? Why are all those giving such false forms BJP workers?”
“Yesterday you saw in Vijayapura that several people came out and said they are alive and not dead, but Form 7 has been submitted stating that they are dead. If people come out and complain about false Form 7s being submitted, should it not be taken by police?” he questioned and added sarcastically that, according to BJP, if law is violated, violators should be felicitated with a Rajyotsava award.
Stating that private and individual complaints are being looked into by police and Deputy Commissioners of districts, the minister said that if a complaint has to be given to the Election Commission, it has to come through them. “Let it come, we will see.”
Alleging that misuse of Form 7s is a “bigger criminal conspiracy” and “centrally sponsored”, he said, “this is happening everywhere….let’s see”.
We all will have to work within the framework of law. We cannot file cases arbitrarily. Only when a complaint is given, cases are registered under relevant sections. Just because the complaint is against BJP, we cannot file cases.”
Asking why BJP leaders like B L Santosh are coming out to defend when questions are asked to the Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Kharge said, “these people cannot win a Gram Panchayat election, and they want to come and teach a lesson to us (Congress).”
“What is the locus standi of BJP on this issue? Why are they behaving like spokesperson of EC. We don’t have anything to answer to BJP. We will go to EC and Supreme Court if there are any issues; let them (BJP) also go there,” he added.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
