In the run-up to Karnataka assembly elections, 10,000 fake voter ID cards were found from an apartment in Jalahalli locality of Bengaluru. This was a major discovery ahead of Karnataka polls scheduled on March 12. Election Commission confirmed the recovery of 9,746 Electors Photo Identity Card from an apartment in Bengaluru’s Jalahalli area of Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency. Chief Electoral Officer for Karnataka, Sanjeev Kumar, said “FIR has been registered & further investigations will be conducted. The situation is being closely monitored by the Election Commission & appropriate action will be taken.”
Now, the Election Commission has stalled this attempt by the Congress to rig the elections in Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency as Karnataka goes to polls today. The Election Commission announced, on the eve of Karnataka assembly polls, that voting will take place in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on May 28 and counting will take place on May 31.
The Election Commission remarked in its order that it had received many complaints from the constituency with regard to distribution of money, gifts and other such illegal gratification. The Election Commission has, in particular, referred to two incidents which led to this decision. One of them is concerning the seizure of a truck carrying goods worth around Rs. 95 lakh and the seizure of thousands of voter ID cards and other forms and information relating to voters. The Election Commission added that the concerned party/candidate had hired a survey firm to carry out an illegitimate survey of the voters in the area which included the photograph of their houses along with details of caste, gender, contact numbers as well as the passport size photographs of the voters. These are serious issues creating apprehensions about the privacy of the voters in the constituency and divulging of personal information.
The Election Commission has not explicitly named anyone in the matter going with its impartial functioning. However, it is the sitting Congress MLA, Munirathna Naidu, who has been reported to be behind both the incidents. In fact, he has been named as the accused in the FIRs filed in both the cases. The Congress has tried spinning off the story and placing the blame for the fiasco on the BJP. Top Congress leader Randeep Surjewala claimed that the house from which the voter ID cards were recovered belonged to a BJP leader, Manjula Nanjamuri and that it was BJP which was resorting to unsavoury tactics before the polls. However, Union Minister Javadekar has pointed out that Nanjamuri had left the BJP six years ago and is now a Congress member. Apart from this, a number of visiting cards belonging to Munirathna have been recovered from the place where the voters ID cards were seized. A tout, alleged to have given effect to the operation, has also admitted that it was done at the behest of a Congress leader.
The circumstances invariably point towards the hand of the Congress and its MLA in the entire issue. While the Congress resorted to mudslinging in an attempt to divert the real issue, it will not be able to escape the wrath of the voters who go to vote in Karnataka today. The order issued by the Election Commission on the eve of the elections will certainly have an effect on the voters as they exercise their right to vote shortly after this misdeed by the Congress came to light. While the issue is restricted to a particular constituency, it will affect the minds of the Karnataka voters as a whole
