Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that nearly 15,000 voters were targeted for deletion from electoral rolls in Karnataka’s Belagavi region through a flood of bulk Form 7 applications.

In a post on X on October 1, Gandhi said the applications were filed over just three days, September 22, 23 and 24. He claimed the targeted voters belonged mainly to Muslim, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and OBC communities, which he said traditionally vote against the BJP.

“I had already exposed this method of vote theft,” Gandhi wrote, alleging BJP functionaries and Election Commission officials collude to file Form 7 applications in bulk through automated means.

Gandhi demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar take action or step down, and said Karnataka Congress leaders were demanding an FIR at the state election CEO’s office.

Form 7 is the Election Commission’s official document for objecting to a name on the electoral roll or seeking its deletion. Filing it does not lead to automatic deletion, as officials must verify each objection.

At least three FIRs have been registered over alleged irregularities in bulk Form 7 filings, two in Belagavi and one in Bhalki, with more cases reported from Mysuru and Bidar.