4 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officers have been arrested on the fees of offering pretend ID playing cards to representatives of NGO Chilume Belief in reference to the voter knowledge theft case, police officers aware of the matter mentioned on Sunday.
The Halasuru Gate police arrested income officers (ROs) Chandrashekar Ok (Mahadevapura), Suhail Ahmed (Shivajinagar) and Bheemashankar (Chickpet) and assistant income officer (AR) Mahesh (RR Nagar) on Saturday.
On November 21, the BBMP had suspended these officers. “In keeping with the Illustration of the Folks Act, no non-public particular person or organisation can subject identification playing cards for election-related actions within the election course of. The electoral registration officers (ERO) had additionally signed on the ID card. That is critical dereliction of responsibility,” the suspension orders acknowledged.
One of many orders acknowledged that the Shivajinagar ERO Suhail Ahmed had issued 14 sales space stage coordinator (BLC) playing cards whereas the Chickpet officer had issued BLC playing cards for enterprise survey in two wards.
Responding to the suspension orders, BBMP chief commissioner Tushar Girinath had mentioned that the officers had been accused of serving to Chilume Belief with pretend ID playing cards as sales space stage officers (BLOs) and BLCs.
The NGO, Chilume Instructional Cultural and Rural Improvement Belief, has been accused of gathering private details about voters, with its members posing as authorities officers in some circumstances.
The BBMP had entrusted Chilume with the duty of conducting house-to-house surveys to create consciousness on revision of electoral rolls. The agency, nonetheless, allegedly went door-to-door to allegedly acquire private particulars, together with caste, schooling, mom tongue, Aadhaar and different particulars.
On Friday, the Election Fee (EC) had directed officers for a assessment of the deletions and additions within the voter lists of three Meeting seats in Karnataka and ordered the suspension of two ballot officers after allegations of “electoral fraud”.
The EC additionally directed the chief electoral officer of the state to share an inventory of all deletions and additions effected within the electoral rolls of Shivajinagar, Chickpet and Mahadevapura Meeting seats after January 1, 2022 with all of the recognised events to allow them to file claims and objections.
The Fee had issued instructions to right away droop extra district election officers S Rangappa (in-charge of the Shivajinagar and Chickpet constituencies) and Ok Srinivas (in-charge of the Mahadevapura constituency).
The Congress on Saturday welcomed the Election Fee’s motion and mentioned to keep up the sanctity of democracy and free-and-fair elections, the EC probe has to cowl all 28 constituencies in and round Bengaluru and never simply three.
Congress normal secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala additionally demanded an FIR towards chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and the chief commissioner of the BBMP, who’s the electoral officer of the constituencies the place voters’ knowledge was allegedly collected .
In the meantime, former Karnataka chief minister and the Opposition chief within the Meeting, Siddaramaiah on Saturday requested the EC to scrutinise all 28 constituencies in reference to the case.
Calling Bommai a “kingpin” within the case, Siddaramaiah mentioned, “The kingpin within the voter ID tampering case is none apart from chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. The Election Fee ought to institute an inquiry within the matter, beneath the supervision of the chief justice of the Karnataka excessive Ccourt, as solely a probe would assist restore folks’s religion within the EC.”
Bommai has, nonetheless, mentioned that the state authorities is finishing up an neutral probe into the fees. He mentioned the federal government is probing the controversy “in an neutral method and any officer or organisation or company discovered responsible will probably be punished”.
“A number of individuals have already been arrested on this connection and the inquiry of officers is on. The Election Fee of India has determined to revise the voter record the place the deletion of names has occurred and the federal government will welcome it. The election have to be held in a free and truthful method,” Bommai mentioned.
(With Company inputs)