The Election Commission has sent Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar to Bengaluru to inquire into the facts about the seizure of more than 9,700 voter identity cards on Tuesday. He has been asked to submit a report by Thursday, two days before Karnataka goes to poll.
“The matter has been taken seriously. After the issue came to light, the Commission had directed the Bengaluru police commissioner and the State Chief Electoral officer to visit the premises from where the seizure was made,” Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat told The Hindu .
He said the facts were being ascertained to decide further course of action.
The Commission has already received a ground report from the Chief Electoral Officer. It is learnt that when the team of State election officials reached the spot on Tuesday the door of the flat was found forced open.
The genuine cards were found at a Jalahalli flat, following which the BJP demanded countermanding of polls in the R.R. Nagar constituency alleging involvement of the Congress.
Malpractice charge
About one lakh counterfoil strips — resembling acknowledgement slips of Form 6, which is used for adding new names on the electoral rolls, — were also found on the premises.
The seizure triggered late-night media briefings by the BJP and the Congress, with both the parties accusing each other of malpractice. Delegations of the two parties also submitted memorandums to the Commission on Wednesday demanding a thorough probe into the episode.
The flat, from where the cards and other articles were seized, belongs to Manjula Nanjundmuri.
The Congress delegation led by senior party leader Anand Sharma has alleged that the entire episode was stage-managed by the BJP.
“A delegation of the Congress has just met the EC officials. We have submitted a detailed memorandum about the malpractices of the BJP and a concerted attempt by the ruling party, with the assistance of Central agencies, including the Income Tax department, to subvert the process of free and fair elections, target Congress candidates, carry out midnight raids and enact conspiracies,” Mr. Sharma said.
“In that constituency [Raja Rajeshwari Nagar], this drama was enacted and it was not the EC or the police, but the BJP people who raided a flat which belongs to a BJP leader and the tenant is also a BJP leader,” Mr. Sharma alleged.
Within hours, a BJP delegation too landed at the EC’s doors. The delegation included Union Ministers J.P. Nadda, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Smriti Irani. They alleged attempt to rig the polls and asked the Election Commission to countermand the election in Raja Rajeshwari Nagar after thousands of allegedly fake voter ID cards were found in a flat.
The delegation demanded a thorough probe into the matter to find out if similar methods were used in other constituencies.
Ms. Irani said the issue was not just important for the BJP but also for the EC, as voter ID cards are seen as an evidence of people’s faith in the electoral process. Mr. Nadda claimed that the incident showed the design of the Congress to influence the election process, saying that there was “enough evidence” for this.
