At least 37 people have reportedly filed forms seeking the deletion of their own names from Karnataka’s electoral rolls on the ground that they were “dead”.
One person filed a Form-7 seeking deletion of the other’s name, citing death as the reason; the person declared dead then filed a similar form, declaring the first person dead as well.
The cases were reported in the Magadi, Sandur, and Byatarayanapura Assembly constituencies, with forms filed between September 17 and 26.
But Srikanth’s name in the electoral rolls was listed as Sudha K.N., a discrepancy the BLO could not explain.
The electoral rolls were frozen on June 16, while the SIR exercise began across Karnataka on June 30.
At least 37 people have reportedly filed forms seeking the deletion of their own names from Karnataka’s electoral rolls on the ground that they were “dead”. The name of the person filing the objection and the name to be deleted were the same, even including their initials, according to an analysis by The Hindu.
In another bizarre pattern, 334 pairs of people have declared each other dead. One person filed a Form-7 seeking deletion of the other’s name, citing death as the reason; the person declared dead then filed a similar form, declaring the first person dead as well.
In all cases, both people in each pair were listed at the same polling station, according to an analysis of Election Commission of India (ECI) data processed by Mandate Analytics and Consulting (MAC Insights).
Some cases included in draft rolls
Most of the forms in which people sought deletion of their own names, citing death as the reason, were filed before the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls began across Karnataka on June 30. However, at least three such forms were filed even after the draft electoral rolls were published, meaning these names were also part of the draft rolls.
The Hindu checked these three cases with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs). The cases were reported in the Magadi, Sandur, and Byatarayanapura Assembly constituencies, with forms filed between September 17 and 26.
Unexplained discrepancies
In Byatarayanapura, Sudha K.N., 25, was listed as both the person filing Form-7 and the person whose name was sought to be deleted, with “dead” cited as the reason. However, the BLO told The Hindu that the form sought the deletion of an elector named Srikanth and had been filed by his wife, Sudha. But Srikanth’s name in the electoral rolls was listed as Sudha K.N., a discrepancy the BLO could not explain. The BLO said she was unaware whether this was a software glitch during the enumeration phase or whether the discrepancy existed in earlier electoral rolls.
In Sandur, Hanumantha, 30, filed a Form-7 seeking deletion of his own name, again citing death as the reason. Senior poll officials attributed the entry to a software glitch, while the BLO said she was unaware that a Form-7 had been filed.
In Magadi, Manish Gowda R. had filed the form. His serial number was listed as 416, but the draft electoral roll for the polling station concerned (Part No. 268) had only 415 electors.
Bizarre pairs peak in June
Meanwhile, the 334 pairs of electors who declared each other dead were spread across more than 25 districts. Belagavi accounted for the highest number of such cases, at 160, followed by Kalaburagi with 80, data processed by MAC Insights showed. While the cases were spread across multiple Assembly constituencies in these districts, all 28 such cases in Mysuru district were concentrated in the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency. All were filed after the SIR was officially announced on May 14.
June saw the highest number of such cases, at 333. The electoral rolls were frozen on June 16, while the SIR exercise began across Karnataka on June 30. Most of these forms were filed before the SIR began in the State.
Mutual electoral destruction
The Hindu alsocross-checked the Form-7 entries against Form-10s — which are the daily consolidation reports of Form-7s — to verify the details.
For instance, on May 17, in Raybag in Belagavi district, an elector named Gangubayi Vaddar sought the deletion of Rukmini Vaddar’s name, declaring her dead. On the same day, Rukmini Vaddar filed a form declaring Gangubayi Vaddar dead.
In another case, on June 8, in Nippani, an elector named Prabhakar Ranga Malage sought deletion of Malan Malage’s name, citing death as the reason. The next day, on June 9, Malan Malage, who had been declared dead a day earlier, sought deletion of Prabhakar Ranga Malage’s name, also citing death as the reason, the Form-10 report shows.
(With inputs from Pon Vasanth B.A., Chennai)
