E-Paper
BBMP suspends three revenue officials over voter data theft case
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner on Monday evening suspended three revenue officers who were also electoral officers of certain assembly constituencies in connection with the voter data theft case
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner on Monday evening suspended three revenue officers who were also electoral officers of certain assembly constituencies in connection with the voter data theft case.
In three separate orders, BBMP chief commissioner Tushar Girinath issued suspension letters to three electoral registration officers (ERO)- - Chandrashekar (ERO for Mahadevapura), VB Bhimashankar (ERO for Chickpete), and Suhail Ahmed (ERO for Shivajinagar).
“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) have also signed on the ID card. This is serious dereliction of duty,” the suspension orders state.
One of the orders states that the Shivajinagar ERO Suhail Ahmed had issued 14 booth level coordinator(BLC) cards while the Chickpet officer issued BLC cards for undertaking door-to-door survey in two wards.
Responding to the suspension orders, Girinath said that the three officials were accused of helping Chilume Trust with fake ID cards as booth level officers (BLOs) and BLCs, adding that the BBMP will prepare a final report which will submitted to the state Chief Election Commissioner.
The suspension orders come at a time when 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 November 20, Bengaluru police arrested the main accused in the alleged voter data theft case, Krishnappa Ravikumar, who is the founder-director of NGO Chilume.
Earlier, four people were arrested in the case. Halasuru Gate police on November 18 arrested Ravikumar’s elder brother Kempe Gowda, NGO director Renuka Prasad, HR executive Dharmesh and project executive Prajwal.
One case has been registered by Halasur gate police under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The police have named Chilume Institute and Lokesh KM, a field worker deployed by Chilume, in the FIR. One more case has been registered at the Kadugodi police station, based on a complaint filed by Chandrashekar, the electoral registration officer in Mahadevapura.
Karnataka Congress on Tuesday, took to Twitter to slam the Basavaraj Bommai-led government, over the suspension of the three revenue officers. “@BSBommai who said that the Congress is making unnecessary accusations, doesn’t the suspension of three officials in the Chilume case indicate the seriousness of the scandal? You said there is no role of the government. Are the revenue officers not a part of the government? Who directed the officials to cooperate with Chilume?” Karnataka Congress tweeted.
The Congress has accused the state BJP government of facilitating widespread voter fraud and demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister. Last week, the Karnataka Congress had submitted a formal complaint with the state chief electoral officer (CEO) alleging electoral fraud, malpractice, and manipulation of the voters’ list by the BJP government in the state. A delegation of the BJP too met the CEO and said that the allegations of the Congress were baseless and politically motivated.
On Sunday, Bommai said he has directed officials to probe into the alleged voter data theft scandal since 2013, when the Congress was in power in the state, and said that “the entire issues must be brought into the open.”
