Element INCIDENT is undefined in FORM

Im trying to send $_POST data from my App to my CF site... after some reading I'm under the impression that form. is the equivalent of $_POST .... i keep getting the above error ... but when I hard code the data  on the datatransfer.cfm page it works ... leading me to believe my site is block the apps access (session.allow= true) or this is the wrong way to send data to coldfusion ... any guidance would be appreciated ... thanks

the app sending

payload = {'Incident' :Incident,'Ic_number':Ic_number,'Last_Name':Last_Name, 'First_Name':First_Name}
headers = {'content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}
r = requests.post("http://xxxx.com/datatransfer.cfm", data=payload)

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Coldfusion form xxxxx.datatransfer.cfm

<cfset  session.allowin = "true">
<cfset incident_number = #form.Incident#>
<cfset active_incident_number = #form.Ic_number#>
<cfset lastname = #form.Last_Name#>
<cfset firstname = #form.First_Name#>

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Application Page

<!--- Create the application --->
   <cfapplication name="xxxxxx"
   	clientmanagement="Yes"
       sessionmanagement="Yes"
       sessiontimeout="#CreateTimeSpan(0,0,15,0)#"
       applicationtimeout="#CreateTimeSpan(0,2,0,0)#" />
   
   <!--- Now define that this user is logged out by default --->
   <CFPARAM NAME="session.allowin" DEFAULT="false" />
   
   <!--- Now define this user id to zero by default, this will be used later on to access specific information about this user. --->
   <CFPARAM NAME="session.user_id" DEFAULT="0" />
   
   <!--- Now if the variable "session.allowin" does not equal true, send user to the login page --->
   <!--- the other thing you must check for is if the page calling this application.cfm is the "login.cfm" page and the "Login_process.cfm" page since the Application.cfm is always called, if this is not checked the application will simply Loop over and over. To check that, you do the following call --->
   
   <cfif session.allowin neq "true">
   	<cfif  ListLast(CGI.SCRIPT_NAME, "/") EQ "login.cfm">
       <cfelseif ListLast(CGI.SCRIPT_NAME, "/") EQ "login_process.cfm">
       <cfelse>
       	<!--- this user is not logged in, alert user and redirect to the login.cfm page --->
           <script>
           	alert("You must login to access this area!");
               self.location="login.cfm";
           </script>
       </cfif>
   </cfif>
   

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