Political slugfest over alleged voter data leak as Cong, BJP trade charges

BENGALURU: With the row over the alleged voter data leak snowballing, the principal Opposition Congress and the BJP leaders were involved in a war of words on Saturday.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar said, “No one has been arrested in the case, and the police have detained a few for the sake of it. An FIR should be registered against all, including those who have received BLO ID cards. A suo motu criminal case should be filed against all of those involved and the probe should be monitored by the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court”, he demanded.

Further, he said, “This is a criminal offence. They have taken away the right to vote for many and it is a crime against democracy. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai himself may be involved. If the phone records are investigated, everything will be revealed.”

Congress leaders’ delegation met the State Election Commission and regarding the alleged voter data theft on Saturday.

Referring to the BJP statement that the Congress leaders were talking only now, Shivakumar said, “The BJP has realised that they will lose the next Assembly election. That is why they are planning a huge conspiracy. They have recovered voter data through the NGO, added and deleted voter names. So far, they have deleted 27 lakh voters’ names without permission. Three ministers and two MLAs have connections with Chilume”, he charged.

Insisting that criminal proceedings should be initiated against all those involved, he said, “We have pressed the Election Commission to file an FIR against all BLOs. Deleted voter names should be verified again. The BLOs claim that EVM management access was given to them during the Congress government. Will they commit murder and blame the Congress for that too?”

Taunting Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai over his claims that he is not connected to the alleged scam, Shivakumar said, “Bommai himself said the BBMP had given the permission. He always talks about daring and guts. If he really has the guts, let there be a free and fair investigation”, he remarked.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, who spoke to the media on the deletion of voter names, said, “We have already given a complaint to the Election Commission. The BJP’s conspiracy is revealed before the nation. Krishnappa Ravikumar, the owner of Chilume Trust, appointed the BLOs. A probe should be conducted on the real BLOs, the BBMP chief commissioner, and the election officer, Bengaluru minister and the CM”.

“What does it mean if they cancel the permission given to the NGO and suspend some officers? It means there is something wrong. Why have they not taken action against other involved? This is invasion of privacy”, Siddaramaiah stressed.

“Minister Ashwath Narayan should be arrested immediately. A currency note counting machine was also was found during the raids. If no action is taken by the government, or if they did not respond to our appeal, we will take it the matter to the Central Election Commission. This is a biggest fraud that I have ever seen”, he said.

“The BBMP commissioner had information of this fraud two months ago, but action was taken. The Election Commissioner has responded positively to our request and assured us that he will speak to the Central Election Commission. If they decide, the case will be handed over to the judiciary”, Siddaramaiah said.

Reacting to the developments, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel tweeted, “Our party, state government is transparent. The BBMP has cancelled the permission given to Chilume immediately after a complaint was received. But the Congress is indulging in unnecessary politics, as they are afraid of defeat. An investigation will also be conducted into the misuse of voter information by the Chilume organization during the Congress government.”

State BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel tweeted on Congress allegations.

“An investigation is under way as the Congress has complained to the Election Commission that the Chilume organization has misused the permission which was obtained for creating awareness about voter registration. The Congress had given contract to this agency during its tenure. Now they have filed a complaint against the same organisation. The Congress feel that it cannot win because the names of the fake voters have been removed from the voter list and they are blaming BJP for that”.

Following the Congress allegations, a BJP delegation including MLC Chalavadi Narayan Swamy, Bengaluru North district president Manjunath, Bengaluru South BJP president Narayan, MLA Ravi Subrahmanya and MLC N Ravikumar met State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar Meena and handed over a memorandum seeking action against the Congress.

MLC Chalavadi Narayan Swamy, Bengaluru North district president Manjunath, Bengaluru South BJP president Narayan were met the State Chief Election Commissioner

The BJP leaders, in their complaint said that the Congress allegations are misleading and requested the Election Commission to conduct a high-level probe right from 2013. “The Congress had given permission to the NGO in 2017-18. It is misleading the case. Let the Election Commission conduct a comprehensive investigation into the case”, they said.

A BJP delegation, including MLA Ravi Subrahmanya and MLC N Ravikumar, met the Election Commissioner.

Speaking to the media later, MLC Ravi Kumar said, “The Congress is hurling allegations that BJP is removing the names of Congress voters from the voter list through Chilume. But it was the Siddaramaiah government which had given the contract to Chilume in September 27, 2017. We did not given permission to that agency. Hence, Bommai need not resign. Instead, Siddaramaiah should step down as Opposition leader. Let Surjewala come to the state with Siddaramaiah’s removal order.”

Ravi Kumar questioned, “Is it possible to remove 27 lakhs voters’ names, as alleged by the Congress? About 6,73,422 names were removed from the list. The Election Commission itself deleted the duplicate names. Let there be a a fair probe into the case.”

BJP leader Chalavadi Narayan Swamy also said, “Congress is using a new toolkit every day. We are not scared. D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah are better off taking ‘Sanyastva’. It will be good for the state.”

Ravi Subrahmanya alleged that the names of 6.14 lakh voters were removed from the voter list during Siddaramaiah’s tenure as Chief Minister. “The BBMP has already taken action against Chilume. Let the Election Commission also take action against Chilume, if there is any wrong-doing”, he added.