We had no clue about donations to NGO from politicians, says BBMP chief

BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath on Saturday claimed that the civic body had no clue about donations received by Chilume Trust from politicians and added that if they had known, the contract for voter awareness campaigns would not have been awarded to the NGO.

“The contract was awarded based on trust. They had given wrong information to the Booth Level Officers (BLOs). We received a report on November 18 and the district Deputy Commissioner has ordered an inquiry. We have given all information to the Election Commission”, he said.

The NGO Chilume has been working with the BBMP since 2018 and had got permission for creating voter awareness and to update voter ID app only for which the civic body has shelled out Rs 1.5 crore.

BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath addressing the media on Saturday.

Chilume was only entrusted with door-to-door awarness drive among voters since 2018 and there had been no objections so far. The NGO has acted on its own and collected other information from voters, he noted. “Lakhs of voters’ names have been deleted from the voters’ list across the state. Just because there is an allegation against Chilume now, it cannot be said that 6 lakh voters’ names have been deleted in Bengaluru. However, we will take up a fresh survey”, Girinath said.

On September 29, there was a complaint, which was sent to the assistant commissioner also and the DC had issued a show-cause notice for wrongly issuing ID cards to BLOs and BCUs. So far, there is no evidence of voter data theft or using a private app. Based on media reports, a complaint has been lodged with the police. Further action will be taken based on the report, which is expected by Saturday evening or Sunday morning, he added.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Srinivas Gowda briefing the media on Saturday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) R Srinivas Gowda said the BBMP has lodged a complaint against the NGO alleging voter data theft in Mahadevapura zone. Two people have been detained so far while some others are being questioned. Several teams have been formed to trace the missing employees of the NGO, he added.