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Voter data theft: BBMP blacklists Chilume trust
The order said that according to multiple documents, Chilume had forged BBMP identity cards to pass off private individuals as booth level officers (BLOs) and coordinators, and this was in violation of the conditions set by the civic body for employing Chilume
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Tuesday blacklisted Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Institute amid allegations that the NGO indulged in voter data theft.
BBMP chief commissioner Tushar Girinath, who is also the election officer for the city, passed an order blacklisting the entity and prohibiting it from participating in any awareness programmes organised by the civic body and the service and procurement tenders floated by the BBMP.
“The chief electoral officer of Bengaluru and BBMP Commissioner has issued an order to blacklist Chilume Educational, Cultural and Rural Development organisation on 27/12/2022. This decision has been taken after the organisation was found to have misused the permission it had obtained to integrate the voter ID’s and Aadhaar cards of residents through VHA (Voter Helpline App) in 28 Vidhan Sabha constituencies,” the BBMP order read.
The order said that according to multiple documents, Chilume had forged BBMP identity cards to pass off private individuals as booth level officers (BLOs) and coordinators, and this was in violation of the conditions set by the civic body for employing Chilume.
The NGO 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 collect personal details, including caste, education, mother tongue, Aadhaar and other details.
On November 18, the head of the NGO, Krishnappa Ravikumar, was arrested along with other employees, including director Renuka Prasad, human relations executive Dharmesh and project executive Prajwal.
On November 27, four BBMP officials were arrested on charges of providing fake ID cards to representatives of Chilume. The Halasuru Gate police arrested revenue officers Chandrashekar K (Mahadevapura), Suhail Ahmed (Shivajinagar) and Bheemashankar (Chickpet) and assistant revenue officer Mahesh (RR Nagar).
After the issue surfaced, the Election Commission ordered a fresh audit of the voters’ list and also extended the period of claims and objections to the electoral roll under special summary revision by 15 days till December 24.
The Congress last month accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of giving permission to the NGO to collect voters’ personal data such as caste, gender and mobile number. Congress also accused Chilume of sharing this data with political parties.
The Congress alleged that more than 2 million names were deleted and 1.1 million voters added to the voters’ lists of the three Assembly constituencies, and Chilume hired many private individuals who were given fake identity cards impersonating booth level officers of BBMP.
The Congress also approached the election commission seeking action against chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, officials and employees of BBMP and the government.
However, the BJP has rejected the Congress’ claims and alleged Chilume was operating even during the Siddaramaiah government. Bommai said the state government is carrying out an impartial probe into the allegations.
