New Delhi: At least 37 people have appealed to delete their own names from the electoral rolls in the course of the special intensive revision in Karnataka, citing the fact that they are dead, The Hindu reports. The analysis finds that another 334 pairs of people have declared each other dead. “One person filed a Form 7 seeking deletion of the other’s name, citing death as the reason; the person declared dead then filed a similar form, declaring the first person dead as well,” the report says.In all cases, both people in each pair were listed at the same polling station, according to an analysis of Election Commission of India data processed by Mandate Analytics and Consulting (MAC Insights).These bizarre facts come amidst nationwide protests calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the rollback of the severely botched SIR.The report notes that at least three such forms where people wanted their own removal because they were ‘dead’, were filed even after the draft electoral rolls were published, thus meaning that these names had been a part of the draft rolls initially.A telling paragraph in the Hindu report notes that at least one case could be thanks to a software glitch:“In Byatarayanapura, Sudha K.N., 25, was listed as both the person filing Form-7 and the person whose name was sought to be deleted, with “dead” cited as the reason. However, the BLO told The Hindu that the form sought the deletion of an elector named Srikanth and had been filed by his wife, Sudha. But Srikanth’s name in the electoral rolls was listed as Sudha K.N., a discrepancy the BLO could not explain. The BLO said she was unaware whether this was a software glitch during the enumeration phase or whether the discrepancy existed in earlier electoral rolls.”Earlier, it had been reported that Karnataka had 28,832 Form 7s whose details are unknown and undisclosed by the Election Commission authorities.In the month just before the SIR began in Karnataka, more than 1.28 lakh Form-7 applications were filed and 45,878 of them were by third parties. Out of the 45,878, as many as 2,254 were ‘bulk applications’ filed by just 112 objectors, each of whom submitted at least 11 or more Form-7 applications, the Hindu has also reported.The Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka said the number of Form 7s filed in the state between June 16 and August 28 was 1,10,654, but the Election Commission portal showed only 81,822 such applications were filed in the state.As The Wire has noted, the SIR in Karnataka has been beset with problems, which came to light as citizens reported them: from voters shocked to find Form 7 applications filed to have their names deleted, to a deputy commissioner alleging he was under pressure to delete 3,000 voters’ names, to the fact that most of the Form 7s requests were to remove Muslim residents.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.