Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP Central Parliamentary Committee member B.S. Yediyurappa has warned of statewide protests if FIRs registered against BJP workers over the submission of bulk Form-7 applications are not withdrawn. Yediyurappa made the remarks on Saturday after meeting Director General and Inspector General of Police M.A. Saleem and seeking the withdrawal of the cases.

Yediyurappa said the BJP had conveyed its concerns to the state police leadership and objected to what he described as harassment of party workers. He alleged that the state government was making false allegations against BJP workers and using the police to act against them. He said the party would not remain silent if its workers continued to face such treatment and warned that protests could be held across Karnataka.

Form 7 is an Election Commission of India form used by voters to request deletion of a name from the electoral roll. The dispute centres on allegations surrounding the submission of large numbers of such applications. Yediyurappa said the BJP was not demanding that every application submitted by its workers be accepted, maintaining that applications found to be valid could be considered while others could be rejected according to the prescribed process.

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The former Chief Minister also alleged that police action against BJP workers followed pressure from the state government. He referred to a protest staged by Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar outside the Election Commission office and claimed that the demonstration had influenced the police response. Yediyurappa urged the police to act independently and reiterated his demand that the FIRs against BJP workers be withdrawn.

The issue has emerged alongside Shivakumar’s demand for an investigation into what the Congress has described as an alleged attempt to delete eligible voters through bulk Form-7 applications. Shivakumar recently staged a dharna at the Chief Electoral Officer’s office in Bengaluru and submitted a representation seeking a criminal case and inquiry into alleged pre-filled applications targeting voters from minority communities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

Shivakumar has said that protecting the rights of eligible voters is the responsibility of the state government and called for the electoral revision process to remain free, fair, transparent and legally compliant. He also said the Election Commission had assured action against those who knowingly file false claims or objections through electoral forms. The competing demands from the BJP and Congress have brought the handling of Form-7 applications and the related FIRs into a wider political dispute in Karnataka.

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