NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission and accused it of erasing nearly 15,000 voters from electoral rolls in Karnataka’s Belagavi region.In a social media post on X, Rahul said that a massive “flood” of Form 7 applications was filed in bulk over three days to remove targeted groups from the voter list.“In just three days – September 22, 23, and 24 – there was a flood of Form 7 applications to remove nearly 15,000 voters… Muslims, SCs, STs, and OBCs are being systematically targeted because they do not vote for the BJP,” Rahul said.“I had already exposed this method of vote theft – votes are deleted through software in a centralised manner. ‘Select’ people are targeted as BJP and EC officials collude to fill out Form 7 in bulk through automated means – and in the blink of an eye, millions vanish from the voter list. And all of this is controlled from the top,” he added.The Congress leader also demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar immediately take action or step down, alleging that refusal to register an FIR undermines democratic institutions.“Karnataka Congress leaders are at this moment demanding an FIR against the culprits at the Karnataka CEO’s office. Why is the CEO refusing this FIR? In this way, Modi, Shah, and Gyanesh are collectively destroying democracy through SIR. This is treason. That’s why I’m saying Gyanesh Kumar should resign and become an approver, and there should be an investigation against Modi and Shah,” he added.Form 7 is the official document prescribed by the Election Commission for objecting to the inclusion of or seeking the deletion of a name from an existing electoral roll.In Belagavi, local election officials reportedly received thousands of such applications over a span of 72 hours, triggering alarm among local Congress workers and booth-level officers (BLOs).Meanwhile, the poll panel and regional authorities clarified the procedural safeguards surrounding Form 7 filings. Election officials stressed that no voter’s name can be deleted automatically or solely based on the submission of a Form 7.Every application requires physical field verification, notices to be issued to the affected voter, and due process to be conducted by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) before any deletion is finalised, the panel said.Election officials instructed local BLOs to halt the immediate processing of suspected bulk filings and initiated internal inquiries to trace the origin of the submissions and verify whether the signatures were genuine.
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Earlier on Wednesday, INDIA bloc leaders held a coordination meeting in New Delhi and announced a series of protests against the EC.Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Opposition parties would organise a nationwide “Save Democracy March” at the district level from October 2 to October 8.