Congress on Thursday demanded the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, alleging that the CM is responsible for a corrupt electoral practice by assigning a private entity to collect door-to-door voter information, reported news agency PTI.
Congress general secretary and the party’s Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a press conference in Bengaluru that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the civic body of Bengaluru, authorised a private firm in August to carry out a door-to-door survey of voters ‘free of cost’ who gathered information about their gender, mother tongue, collected voter ID and Aadhaar details.
“Shocking exposé reveals that those in citadels of power, including Karnataka CM, are responsible for theft of voter data, fraud and impersonation. CM Bommai, his officials, govt officers, BBMP people and State Election authority are partners in crime in trampling democracy,” said Surjewala, as quoted by ANI.
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The Congress leader said that the private firm also appointed hundreds of Booth Level Officers (BLO), who were issued ID cards resembling as if they are government employees.
“The CM is BBMP in-charge minister. Its Chief Commissioner is Bengaluru’s electoral officer. A private entity, Chilume Edu Institute applies for permission for voter awareness. On being permitted, they commit the fraud of collecting voter data by impersonating booth-level officers,” he said.
Surjewala further alleged that the cache of data was not fed into the Garuda application, made by the Election Commission of India, but into an application ‘Digital Sameeksha’ of the private firm.
Meanwhile, Congress has filed a complaint with the police commissioner against CM Bommai, the BBMP commissioner, and other officers regarding the case.
Speaking about the complaint, the leader of Opposition and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the party is filing a complaint in regard to the issue and demanded the arrest of the CM.
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“A private NGO applied to BBMP for electoral roll revision and voters awareness. BBMP Commissioner permitted them within a day. They were given BLO identity cards. CM Bommai conspired to do this fraud. So, we are filing the complaint. The CM should resign immediately and must be arrested,” he said, as quoted by ANI.