India, Oct. 2 -- Karnataka chief minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday, accompanied by six cabinet ministers, met state chief electoral officer V Anbukkumar, and demanded an FIR and a time-bound criminal investigation into alleged bulk submission of fraudulent Form 7 objections.

The sit-in lasted about five hours. He alleged that pre-printed Form 7s carrying voters' names, addresses and EPIC (unique voter ID) numbers were being supplied to BJP workers.

The BJP denied these charges. Party leader R Ashoka said his party would answer only a court or the Election Commission.

Karnataka is not the only state. Similar instances of the alleged misuse of Form 7 to target genuine voters have been reported from several other states, including Odisha...