Congress leaders staged a protest at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Bengaluru on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: File photo
Slamming the BJP for asking the “proof” over alleged misuse of Form-7 by the BJP party workers, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said the party has exposed its own “conspiracy” by acknowledging that its workers had filed thousands of applications seeking deletion of voters from minority communities.
“The BJP should be ashamed of itself. They have admitted to filing around 25,000 applications. This is an admission of the crime and conspiracy they have committed,” he said, demanding that the Election Commission initiate proceedings against the party at the national-level and establish who had shared the documents containing voters’ details that were pre-filled in the applications.
Responding to the BJP’s demand that the Chief Minister produce evidence of a conspiracy to delete lakhs of votes or resign, Mr. Shivakumar said the Opposition was free to demand his resignation but should also explain its own admission regarding the applications.
“I congratulate R. Ashok and B.Y. Vijayendra of the BJP for admitting that they themselves are the architects of vote theft. This is an admission of a criminal conspiracy. Is that not shameful? The police should arrest them. What more evidence is needed?” he asked.
Reacting to the BJP’s remarks that the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues violated the law by protesting outside the CEO’s office and not at Freedom Park, he said he welcomed complaints against him and that the authorities were free to act if he had violated the law.
“If we have violated the law, let them register cases against us. Let their demands be fulfilled legally. Where did we stage a protest? We submitted our representation to the Election Commissioner and sat there until the work was done. If the BJP or the media describes that as a protest, am I responsible for it?” he asked.
Mr. Shivakumar said he had remained at the CEO’s office as a public representative to protect the voting rights of people in the State and had waited until his representation was addressed.
Published – October 02, 2026 08:41 pm IST
