The battleground Karnataka just got dirtier as political parties fight tooth and nail to win the big election during the run-up to the 2019 general elections. Last night, thousands of voter ID cards, neatly bundled, were found in an apartment in Bengaluru along with laptops, printers and about one lakh form six counterfoils used for new addition of names in the electoral rolls which were seized by the Election Commission.
On preliminary investigation these 9746 EPIC cards are of actual electors & appear to be prima facie genuine. However the significance of the counterfoils can only be verified after due investigation: Election Commission pic.twitter.com/SILPgmrjnf
— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2018
As of now, FIR has been registered and further investigation is underway.
FIR has been registered & further investigations will be conducted. The situation is being closely monitored by the Election Commission & appropriate action will be taken: Sanjeev Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer for #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/Q5o5zrqz6z
— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2018
While the voter cards were found to be genuine, the significance of the counterfoil is under investigation. In a statement released by the EC, it states that the apartment where the voter IDs were discovered belongs to one Manjula Nanjamuri which is rented out to one Sri Rakesh.
This triggered allegations and counter allegations by both the political parties, each accusing the other of trying to rig the elections. While Congress spokesperson held a midnight press conference to accuse the owner of the flat is a BJP leader, BJP’s Prakash Javadekar denied Nanjamuri being part of BJP any longer.
Manjula Nanjamuri has nothing to do with BJP. She left BJP six years ago. Manjula is a Congress person now. They just want to blame BJP without any substance. We have proof of various things, which we will present before the EC: Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister. pic.twitter.com/ApXbRoDvyM
— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2018
The BJP on Tuesday night demanded countermanding of elections in RajRajeshwariNagar constituency of Karnataka in the light of latest revelations of the seizure of ‘fake’ voter ID. As of now, the Returning Officer along with other EC officers are present at the flat for further investigation.
We had reported yesterday how IT sleuths had raided a resort connected to Congress in the Badami, one of the two constituencies from which Siddaramaiah will be fighting these elections. With the elections heating up, authorties seem to be doing the best they can to ensure free and fair elections.
Karnataka goes for voting on 12th May across the state and results are to be announced on 15th May.
Note: This is a developing story and we shall update the same when fresh information pours in.
