More than 61,000 requests to delete voters from Karnataka's rolls were filed in the names of the very officers who decide such requests, and not one of them gives a reason. As reported by @rishitaakhanna and @pon_vasanth in @the_hindu at least 61,059 Form 7 applications seeking deletion of names from Karnataka's electoral rolls were filed in the names of EROs & AEROs, the officials responsible for deciding them. That is one-third of all Form 7s filed in the state since August 24. Not a single one states a reason for deletion, even though stating the reason is mandatory under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Officials said they had been instructed to file Form 7s for voters who had shifted, were duplicates, underage, dead or not Indian citizens. But because the forms were auto generated the reason field was left blank. Without a reason, neither the voter nor anyone examining the roll can know why a name was marked for deletion, or check whether the deletion was justified. Now look at the timing. 🔹Between August 24 and September 23, during the claims and objections period, only 192 such applications were received. 🔹After that window closed b/w September 24 & October 22 more than 60,800 were filed. 🔹More than 53,000 came in one week between October 16 & October 22 the last week for disposing of notices. 🔹On the final day alone October 22, officials filed 10,105. Rule 17 of the Registration of Electors Rules says any objection not lodged within the prescribed period or in the prescribed form & manner, shall be rejected by the registration officer. Objections filed after September 23 were meant to be considered only for a supplementary roll after SIR. Yet when The Hindu cross checked voters EPIC numbers on the ECI portal in every case it checked, the names were already off the roll, including those against whom applications were filed after the deadline. It also remains unclear whether the hearing notices that are mandatory before deletion were ever issued, or on what grounds the names were removed. The pattern is concentrated. 🔹In BBMP South, officials filed 10,374 of 17,491 applications. 🔹In Bommanahalli, they filed 4,095 of 5,757. 🔹In at least 26 constituencies, officials filed more Form 7s than voters or third parties. The numbers don't add up either. Between September 24 & October 22, the CEO's office reported 1,70,442 Form 7s, but only 1,56,634 appear in the ECI's public records, a gap of 13,808 applications. Karnataka's final roll will be published on October 27. Here the questions are - 🔹Who instructed that Form 7s be filed in the names of EROs and AEROs, and on whose authority? 🔹Why were these forms auto-generated without the reason the law requires? 🔹Why were more than 60,800 objections filed after the deadline & why should they not be rejected under Rule 17? 🔹On what grounds & after what hearing, were the names in these applications removed from the roll? 🔹Why do 13,808 applications reported by the CEO not appear in the ECI's public records? 🔹Will every deletion without a recorded reason be reviewed before the final roll is published? When the same officers who must judge objections are named as the ones filing them with no reason given & after the deadline, the safeguard meant to protect the voter stops working. A voter's name cannot be erased by a blank form. thehindu.com/news/national/k…