MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal Booked Over False Form 7 Applications

Bengaluru: An FIR has been registered at Vyalikaval Police Station here based on a complaint alleging that 778 "false" Form-7 applications were submitted during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls.

In Vijayapura, eight voters have challenged expelled-BJP MLA and Hindutva Leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal's claim that their names figured in the rolls despite their absence.

The Bengaluru case was registered on a complaint by Congress leader Anoop Iyengar, alleging irregularities in Ward-64 of the Malleshwaram Assembly constituency. Booth agent Vasantha Lakshmi has been named in the FIR. But the FIR did not mention which party she belonged to.

The complaint alleges that Form-7 applications were submitted claiming that voters were either absent from their residences or had permanently shifted, although they were actually residing in the constituency.

It further alleges that individuals linked to the BJP and RSS targeted voters belonging to a particular community and misused the Form-7 process.

The applications were allegedly submitted in the name of Vasantha Lakshmi. Police are investigating the allegations.

Meanwhile, the SIR controversy intensified in Vijayapura after Yatnal, who has been expelled from the BJP, on September 30 claimed that names of persons missing and those located elsewhere have figured in the electoral rolls.

Eight voters subsequently approached the Deputy Commissioner's office, claiming they were alive and demanding legal action against Yatnal.

One of the complainants, Razia Mehrunnisa Sheikh, said she was living at her address in Ward-22 of Langar Bazaar but had been shown as dead.

"I am alive and living here, but the authorities have issued a death certificate in my name. The details are also wrong, including the names of my parents. They have simply marked me as dead. I have been cheated, and I want justice," she said.

Another complainant said he had submitted his Aadhaar card and voter ID as proof of his identity and demanded an FIR against those responsible.

"If I am alive and all my identification documents are valid, how can they declare me dead? I have my Aadhaar card and voter ID. An FIR should be registered against those responsible, and whoever has done this must be punished," he said.

The MLA, however, stood by his allegations, saying it was not his responsibility to prove that the persons were alive.

It is not my responsibility to prove that they are alive. There are voters with the same name registered at four different places, and their photographs are different," he said.

Taking his own name as an example, Yatnal said there were around 10,000 people with similar names in Karnataka and claimed that the electoral-roll verification process had exposed discrepancies.

"If you say that we have submitted bogus information, then investigate it. That is precisely why the SIR process is being conducted, to verify such discrepancies," he said.

Yatnal also alleged duplicate entries in the rolls, including cases where the same voter was registered at multiple locations, and said the photographs and details should be scrutinised as part of the verification process.