Karnataka polls: Election Commission seizes nearly 10,000 voter ID cards from Raja Rajeshwari Nagar constituency

The Election Commission Tuesday night ordered an enquiry into nearly 10,000 voter identity cards recovered from an apartment in Bengaluru’s Jalahalli area in the Raja Rajeshwari Nagar constituency which the Congress claims belongs to a BJP leader. Sanjeev Kumar, chief electoral officer for Karnataka said initial investigation indicates the ~9700 cards “appear to be prima facie genuine” and only a thorough probe can determine if this is accurate. [caption id=“attachment_4458721” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image[/caption] Five laptops and a printer were also recovered from the same apartment where the mass of voter ID cards were found. Manjula Nanjamuri owns this apartment which is said to have been rented to a person named Rakesh, according to newswire ANI. The BJP pounced on the news spike from the hurriedly cobbled press conference close to midnight. “Congress is losing public support and they are trying hard to rig the upcoming elections in Karnataka by undemocratic ways. So, we demand countermanding of polls in Raj Rajeshwari Nagar constituency,” BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said. Congress hit back swiftly. “Who is Manjula Nanjamuri - owner of flat No. 115? She is a BJP leader and ex-corporator. Who did she rent this house to? To Rakesh, who is Manjula’s son. He contested the corporation election on a BJP ticket in 2015 and lost to the Congress”, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala explained. “FIR has been registered and further investigations will be conducted. The situation is being closely monitored by the EC and appropriate action will be taken”, Kumar said.

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

Kumar said two two large bags of counterfoils, which appear to be acknowledgement slips of the form used to add voters’ names, were also found at the same location although the forms were of a colour different from the one used by the Election Commission. Raja Rajeshwari Nagar is home to roughly 4.4 lakh voters. In 2013, the seat went to the Congress’s Munirathna who cornered 37 per cent of  vote share. Munirathna is seeking reelection and is pitted against BJP’s Muniraju Gowda this year. 

In Raj Rajeshwari Nagar constituency, there are 4,35,439 electors with EP ratio of 75.43. During last speacial summary revision 25,825 additions are there, 19,012additions were done during continuous updation. There have been total deletions of 8817 person: Election Commission pic.twitter.com/mEeKVQiDQi

— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2018

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