K’taka: Cong alleges fraud over private entity in voter survey

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike had cancelled the permission given to the NGO to conduct door-to-door visits to “create awareness” among the public on online application via Voter Helpline Mobile App pertaining to voter ID saying that it “violated the conditions of the permission”

A political controversy broke out in Karnataka on Thursday over allegations against an NGO of fraudulently collecting private information of voters by making their agents pose as government officials.

The Opposition Congress demanded chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s resignation over allegations against an NGO of fraudulently collecting private information of voters by making their agents pose as government officials. (PTI)

The Opposition Congress demanded chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s resignation over the matter, blaming his government for the data theft.

The chief minister, however, refuted the allegations saying the opposition party was running out of ideas.

According to an investigation by the NewsMinute, the NGO — Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust — covertly collected personal information from thousands of voters in Bengaluru by making their field agents pose as government officials. The data theft was enabled by a government order that allowed the NGO to “create awareness” about voter rights and the revision of electoral rolls.

On Wednesday, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bengaluru’s municipal authority, had cancelled the permission given to the NGO to conduct door-to-door visits to “create awareness” among the public on online application via Voter Helpline Mobile App pertaining to voter ID saying that it “violated the conditions of the permission.”

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Congress general secretary and the party’s Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said: “The shocking expose has revealed that those sitting in the citadels of power, including Bommai, are overtly and covertly responsible for theft of voter data, fraud and impersonation through brazen misdemeanours.”

“Chilume Educational and Rural Development Institute applied for permission to conduct voter awareness drive of the Election Commission. Firstly, the permission was given for Mahadevapura assembly constituency and it was then extended to all 28 assembly constituencies of Bengaluru vide a government order dated August 20, 2022,” the AICC general secretary claimed.

Alleging that “the chief minister was the conduit of the electoral fraud,” Surjewala said, “There has to be an FIR against Basavaraj Bommai and he should be arrested.”

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who accompanied Surjewala, said his party would lodge a police complaint and demanded that the government order an inquiry into the matter under the supervision of the Chief Justice of the Karnataka high court.

Hitting back, Bommai announced that he will order a comprehensive probe into the issue and maintained that the Congress’ demand for resignation was “ridiculous”.

“Let the truth come out. I am handing over the case for a comprehensive probe. Right from the first direction of the Election Commission, everything will be probed,” he said.

Regarding the demands of his resignation, Bommai said that if that was the case, the Congress chief ministers should have tendered their resignations thrice. “This is a baseless allegation,” he added.

(With inputs from PTI)