Karnataka polls: BJP, Congress engage in fierce back and forth after EC seizes 10,000 voter cards

Three days before Karnataka voters are slated to cast their ballots in the Assembly elections, nearly 10,000 voter identity cards seized by the flying squad of the Election Commission (EC) triggered a massive political squabble, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (Secular) demanding elections be cancelled for the Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency. [caption id=“attachment_4137141” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Firstpost[/caption] EC officials, along with police, arrived at SLV Parkview Apartment in Jalahalli on Tuesday and seized over 9,000 voter identity cards, five laptops, one printer and several copies of Form 6 with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) seal on it after BJP and JD(S) workers informed them about the alleged scam. All names and addresses on the seized voter cards were genuine. While the Congress alleged that Manjula Nanjamuri, the owner of the flat is a BJP leader, the BJP accused the Congress of trying to rig the election. Mamatha Vasudev, a BJP corporator from ward 70, said Nanjamuri defected to the Congress along with MLA Munirathna in 2013. Media reports said Nanjamuri rented out the house to her nephew, Rakesh, a BJP worker who contested the BBMP elections in 2015. But Nanjamuri said that she did not rent her apartment to Rakesh and instead had signed a rent agreement with her neighbour Rangarajan. “Rakesh is my brother-in-law’s son and he moved out of our house in 2010. We are not in touch at all. The house was rented out to Rangarajan. He told me that his sister Rekha Anjan wanted the house. After signing the rent agreement, he told me he’d provide a copy of the agreement, but he didn’t contact me. As I am not well, the thought slipped my mind and I forgot to ask him about the photocopy”, the 58-year-old former BJP corporator told Firstpost. She added that she visited the house after getting a call from the security-in-charge at midnight on Tuesday. “When I reached, they asked me to open the door as the house belonged to me. Rakesh, along with a few other BJP workers, started questioning me as to why I rented out the house to them (Rangarajan and her sister). I tried but could not reach Rangarajan or his wife on phone”, she added. Congress leaders claimed Nanjamuri is an active BJP leader and Rakesh is her adopted son. But Rakesh said in a press conference that he does not understand how the news spread. “I am not her adopted son. I have no relation with her”, he said. Nanjamuri said she has not been active with any political party due to her ailment. Union minister Sadananda Gowda said, “Nanjamuri is not in the BJP. She left the party 10 years ago. I know Rakesh. He works for the BJP and is a very good person. I don’t think he is in any way involved in this. I saw it myself, yesterday. I was present with Deve Gowda at the spot. There were pamphlets with Munirathna’s pictures on it; brown envelopes, visiting cards, etc, which they were trying to distribute among people”. Vasudev said, “Our BJP workers, who were campaigning in the area, felt something fishy was going in the apartment as they saw a few people with laptops moving in and out of the house around 11 am yesterday. Our workers saw them on other days as well”. “We entered the house to find a mini office set up there. There were five boys and a girl working on their laptops, surrounded with the voter identity cards. On seeing us, the men ran away and in a while we were accosted by 50-60 Congress-backed goons. All of them escaped before the police arrived”, she added. “There was some commotion between BJP and Congress workers”, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Chetan Singh Rathore. “Two persons have been arrested in that case. A case of assault, rioting, hurt and intimidation has been filed at the Jalahalli Police Station. Two of the accused, Venkatesh and Raghu have been arrested. Efforts are on to nab other accused”. Following the seizure, both the JD(S) and BJP accused Munirathna of creating fake voter identity cards. After the incident, BJP’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyuruppa tweeted: “They had around 20,000 fake ids, but burnt most of them before police arrived. Around 10,000 copies of Form 6 with BBMP seals were also found. There were water cans with Munirathna’s pictures along with a visiting card on it”, added Vasudev. But Munirathna denied any role in the alleged scam, and said the Opposition was levelling baseless allegations against him, Jagadish Ramachandra, the JD(S) candidate from Rajarajeshwari Nagar, who reportedly unearthed the alleged scam, claimed the involvement of BBMP officials. “When I entered the apartment, I found about 1,000 cards. If a family has more than six votes, they delete their details and add new numbers to the address. After adding it, the BBMP officials get involved”, he claimed. But Mayor Manjunath Reddy rebuffed this allegation, and said the BBMP does not have anything to do with the voter identity cards. “As far as I know, no one in the BBMP ever made arrangements to sell duplicate or fake copies (of voter identity cards). It’s all lies”, he said. Saying that the scam was being run by private individuals, Reddy added, “Strict action should be taken against them. Any team of prepared people can make duplicates. If they want, they can also get the state government, central government or the BBMP’s seal”. Ramesh KN, Joint Chief Electoral Officer said, “I don’t remember the exact number. Around 7,000 ids were seized. It’s too early to take a decision on the matter. Investigations are on and we are waiting for the report. It is too early to speak about anything”. The authors are members of The NewsCar_t, a Bengaluru-based media startup._