E-Paper
Cong demands review of 2.7mn names’ deletion from voter list, lodges complaint with poll officer
Minister Ashwath Narayan accused Congress of making baseless accusations using the name of an organisation called ‘Hombale’. “My brother, too, runs an organisation called ‘Hombale’, which is a movie production house. The organisation Congress is referring to has nothing to do with the group”
The Karnataka unit of Congress on Saturday submitted a formal complaint with the state chief electoral officer (CEO) alleging electoral fraud, malpractice, and manipulation of the voters’ list.
The delegation led by Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar met CEO Manoj Kumar Meena.
The two leaders had earlier asked for a review of the deletion of 2.7 million voters from the list. They claimed that the voters’ data was “stolen by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to suit its advantage”.
“We appeal to your esteemed authority to take cognizance of illegal acts committed by the above-said persons and direct the concerned authorities to file criminal complaints including on the Hon’ble Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, minister Ashwath Narayan and other officers and persons punishable under the 11 provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Representation of the People Act 1950 and 1951 and other laws to hold the free and fair elections in the state of Karnataka,” the complaint read.
The statements come after NGO Chilume Social Service Society had collected personal information from thousands of voters in Bengaluru by making their field agents “pose” as government officials.
The firm went door-to-door to allegedly collect personal details, including caste, education, mother tongue, Aadhaar and other details.
The exercise was done by using people identifying them as booth-level officers (BLO)
Following the meeting on Saturday, Shivakumar alleged that minister Ashwath Narayan and his team are behind the voter data theft.
“We have to file a complaint to protect the voters’ rights. This is the biggest fraud committed by BJP ministers of Bengaluru. Minister CN Ashwath Narayan and his team are behind this and they used the data and collected information illegally, to delete lakhs of votes,” Shivakumar said.
“The officials who permitted the appointment of the 28 booth level officers (BLOs) should be arrested.Their documents should be seized. The records are kept at Halasuru Gate police station. There is a letterhead and a note-counting machine. To whom does the letterhead belong? Why was the counting machine there?” he asked.
However, minister Ashwath Narayan accused Congress of making baseless accusations using the name of an organisation called ‘Hombale’. “My brother, too, runs an organisation called ‘Hombale’, which is a movie production house. The organisation Congress is referring to has nothing to do with my brother’s group. The electoral roll revision is Election Commission’s work; there is nothing in it for the CM or me.”
Karnataka Congress had earlier demanded chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s resignation for his alleged “involvement” in the controversy. Terming it the “votergate scandal”, Siddaramaiah criticised the CM for terming the allegations “baseless”. “The chief minister is directly involved in this scandal. He is the main offender. It is a big conspiracy to defeat the rights of the voters. If anyone interferes with the free and fair manner of the election, it is a punishable offence,” he said.
CM Bommai on Thursday had dismissed the Congress charge of electoral fraud and said he was ready for inquiry into the matter. “What I feel is that the Congress has got bankrupt ideas. It is a matter between the Election Commission of India, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the NGO (concerned),” Bommai had said.
Responding to this, Siddaramaiah said: “Bommai is the in-charge minister for Bengaluru. He is accountable and answerable to the legislature and the people of the state. He is saying a hundred lies to bury the truth.”
Siddaramaiah further asked why those involved with the NGO Chilume, which is accused of unauthorised voter data collection, were not arrested. “Why hasn’t the BBMP chief commissioner been arrested? Since Bommai keeps on saying that he is not involved and allegations were baseless, we have asked the state election commission to form a judicial commission under the supervision of the Karnataka high court chief justice.
BBMP chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath meanwhile denied any data theft by the NGO. “We had received complaints regarding impersonation of our officials by staff of the trust who were collecting voters’ data in September 2022. Based on the complaint, the nodal officer for SVEEP had given a show-cause notice to the trust. We found that the trust had impersonated our officials. On November 2, we cancelled their permission.”
“We didn’t get any complaints against the trust on voter data theft... so far, we have not got any evidence of data theft. After media reports on data theft, we filed a police complaint against the trust since we too have a doubt,”he said.
