Karnataka Police have obtained a court-issued search warrant to search the office of BJP corporator and booth-level agent Motkar Srinivas in Ballari, in a case concerning representations seeking the removal or verification of more than 7,500 voters from the electoral roll. The warrant follows an FIR registered against Srinivas on a complaint filed by Congress booth-level agent Gautham. Police said the search of Srinivas’s office on Talur Road will focus on records and other material connected with the submission of the applications.

According to the police, Srinivas submitted a representation to election officials on September 21 seeking action against 7,561 voters in the Ballari City Assembly constituency. The voters were cited as being absent, having shifted residence or being registered elsewhere. Election authorities rejected the request for lack of supporting evidence, following which Srinivas returned the next day seeking re-verification, according to the police account. The subsequent complaint by Gautham alleged that the process amounted to an attempt to illegally remove eligible voters from the electoral rolls.

The case has emerged amid a wider controversy in Karnataka over the use of Form 7 during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Form 7 is an official Election Commission mechanism through which an elector can object to the inclusion of a name or seek deletion of an existing electoral-roll entry. The Election Commission’s voter services portal lists Form 7 for deletion requests, while the Ballari district administration has separately published material relating to claims and objections under the ongoing SIR exercise.

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The police action follows growing scrutiny of alleged bulk submissions of Form 7. Karnataka’s chief electoral officer on October 1 directed electoral registration officers to initiate legal proceedings where applicants knowingly make false statements or declarations in Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8. The direction said officials should establish through an inquiry whether claims or objections were knowingly false before taking legal action. The order did not link alleged bulk applications to any particular political party.

The BJP has criticised the police action and accused the authorities of targeting its workers. Party leaders have announced protests in Ballari and warned that the agitation could be expanded across Karnataka if cases against BJP workers continue. Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa said the party would oppose what he described as harassment, while Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka argued that submitting Form 7 itself was not a crime and that the Election Commission should determine whether a voter’s name should be removed.

The Ballari case is part of a broader political and legal dispute over electoral-roll revisions in Karnataka, with similar allegations involving Form 7 applications reported in other constituencies. The BJP has maintained that the statutory process should not be criminalised merely because multiple applications are submitted, while authorities have stressed that knowingly false declarations can attract legal action. The investigation into the Ballari complaint will determine whether the applications and supporting material involved any offence, while the court-issued warrant allows police to examine records linked to their submission.

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