BENGALURU: Terming as baseless the Congress allegations that the NGO Chilume indulged in voter data fraud at the behest of the ruling BJP, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said it was during the Congress government the orders were issued to the non-profit, flouting norms laid down by the Election Commission (EC).
The CM added that a thorough investigation will bring the truth to light in the matter. Addressing mediapersons in Bengaluru on Sunday, the CM said, “It was during the Congress government that orders were issued to Chilume, flouting rules of the Election Commission. An investigation will bring the truth to the fore. The baseless allegation will backfire on the Congress.”
He said his government has directed an investigation from 2013, during the tenure of the previous Siddaramaiah government. The CM added that the probe will bring to light the instructions that had allegedly been given to the NGO by the previous Congress government.
“The people must know what orders were issued to Chilume and why. Our government had only asked the agency to create awareness among voters, only on the condition that it should not have any link or association with any political party”, Bommai stressed.
“However, former chief minister Siddaramaiah had issued orders seeking revision of the electoral roll, which can only be done by the Election Commission. It is a grave crime that the work, which is in the domain of the EC, had been entrusted to a private body. A tahsildhar was issued orders to appoint BLOs. The Siddaramaiah government crossed all limits and misusing power”, the CM further claimed.
He said the allegations against the present government were politically motivated. To the allegation that the chief minister had used the NGO to collect details of voters, Bommai said that all political parties use such agencies to get surveys done. But it is important to note the nature of the instructions issued by the government, he added.
“Our government had put a condition before the NGO that it must not have any link with any political party. This condition was missing in the orders issued by the previous government. The Siddaramaiah government had even authorised the NGO to apoint BLOs”, Bommai claimed.
On whether the government will recommend a high-level probe, Bommai said, “The government had earlier planned to probe only the allegation raised by the Congress. But it has now been decided to probe whatever happened since 2013.”
He said Congress’ allegation of deletion of names from electoral rolls was baseless. “It is a false allegation that the names of 27 lakh voters were deleted from the rolls. In Shivajinagar, only 15,000 names were deleted and in KR Puram and Mahadevapura, about 40,000 to 45,000 names were removed. This time, the Election commission is using Artificial Intelligence to weed out duplicate names from the list. This will remove fake voters from the rolls and ensure fair polling. It will also end the practice of inclusion of names from other areas to sway the polls towards the Congress. The Congress is creating a hue and cry because we are trying to stop such electoral fraud,” the CM said.
On the Congress’s plan to move the Election Commission in the matter, he said, “Let them complain to whoever they want. The truth will come out. Their allegations are baseless and will backfire on them.” (ANI)