Bengaluru, Oct. 2 -- Karnataka chief minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday called for a criminal investigation into what he described as a coordinated effort to remove voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), accusing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers of submitting applications targeting minorities, Dalits and Scheduled Tribes. "There are many instances of individuals filing multiple applications in different names for deleting voters. Minorities, Dalits and tribals are being targeted to remove their names from the electoral roll under SIR," Shivakumar said. He said applications were submitted seeking the deletion of 4.5 million voters. He added that 14,000 such applications were filed in Vijayapura alone. He alleged that the bulk applications were filed between September 22 and 24 and those submitting them on behalf of other people were BJP workers. Shivakumar said cases had been registered in Belagavi, Bhalki, Mysuru and other places over what he called illegal attempts to remove names from the electoral roll. He called it the BJP and ally Janata Dal (Secular)'s big conspiracy to delete five to six million voters. "BJP has printed large numbers of Form 7 to exclude votes," he said. In a letter to the state Chief Electoral Officer, he said no eligible citizen, irrespective of religion, caste, community or social background, should be deprived of the right to remain on the electoral roll....