4 BBMP officials arrested in voter data theft case

The Halasuru Gate police arrested revenue officers (ROs) Chandrashekar K (Mahadevapura), Suhail Ahmed (Shivajinagar) and Bheemashankar (Chickpet) and assistant revenue officer (AR) Mahesh (RR Nagar) on Saturday.

Four Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials have been arrested on the charges of providing fake ID cards to representatives of NGO Chilume Trust in connection with the voter data theft case, police officials privy to the matter said on Sunday.

On November 21, the BBMP had suspended these officers. (Wikimedia Commonns)

The Halasuru Gate police arrested revenue officers (ROs) Chandrashekar K (Mahadevapura), Suhail Ahmed (Shivajinagar) and Bheemashankar (Chickpet) and assistant revenue officer (AR) Mahesh (RR Nagar) on Saturday.

On November 21, the BBMP had suspended these officers. “According to the Representation of the People Act, no private person or organisation can issue identity cards for election-related activities in the election process. The electoral registration officers (ERO) had also signed on the ID card. This is serious dereliction of duty,” the suspension orders stated.

One of the orders stated that the Shivajinagar ERO Suhail Ahmed had issued 14 booth level coordinator (BLC) cards while the Chickpet officer had issued BLC cards for undertaking survey in two wards.

Responding to the suspension orders, BBMP chief commissioner Tushar Girinath had said that the officials were accused of helping Chilume Trust with fake ID cards as booth level officers (BLOs) and BLCs.

The NGO, Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust, has been accused of collecting personal information about voters, with its members posing as government officials in some cases.

The BBMP had entrusted Chilume with the task of conducting house-to-house surveys to create awareness on revision of electoral rolls. The firm, however, allegedly went door-to-door to allegedly collect personal details, including caste, education, mother tongue, Aadhaar and other details.

On Friday, the Election Commission (EC) had directed officials for a review of the deletions and additions in the voter lists of three Assembly seats in Karnataka and ordered the suspension of two poll officials after allegations of “electoral fraud”.

The EC also directed the chief electoral officer of the state to share a list of all deletions and additions effected in the electoral rolls of Shivajinagar, Chickpet and Mahadevapura Assembly seats after January 1, 2022 with all the recognised parties to enable them to file claims and objections.

The Commission had issued directions to immediately suspend additional district election officers S Rangappa (in-charge of the Shivajinagar and Chickpet constituencies) and K Srinivas (in-charge of the Mahadevapura constituency).

The Congress on Saturday welcomed the Election Commission’s action and said to maintain the sanctity of democracy and free-and-fair elections, the EC probe has to cover all 28 constituencies in and around Bengaluru and not just three.

Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala also demanded an FIR against chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and the chief commissioner of the BBMP, who is the electoral officer of the constituencies where voters’ data was allegedly collected .

Meanwhile, former Karnataka chief minister and the Opposition leader in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah on Saturday requested the EC to scrutinise all 28 constituencies in connection with the case.

Calling Bommai a “kingpin” in the case, Siddaramaiah said, “The kingpin in the voter ID tampering case is none other than chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. The Election Commission should institute an inquiry in the matter, under the supervision of the chief justice of the Karnataka high Ccourt, as only a probe would help restore people’s faith in the EC.”

Bommai has, however, said that the state government is carrying out an impartial probe into the charges. He said the government is probing the controversy “in an impartial manner and any officer or organisation or agency found guilty will be punished”.

“Several persons have already been arrested in this connection and the inquiry of officials is on. The Election Commission of India has decided to revise the voter list where the deletion of names has occurred and the government will welcome it. The election must be held in a free and fair manner,” Bommai said.

(With Agency inputs)