Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018: Nearly 10,000 Voter IDs Found in Bengaluru Apartment, EC Orders Probe

New Delhi: Nearly 10,000 voters ID cards were found at a ‘rented’ apartment in North Bangalore’s R R Nagar area late on Tuesday night, leading to a probe by the Election Commission.

In the late night drama, 9,746 voter IDs and two trunks of 'counter papers' (similar to acknowledgement) were found at the apartment of one Rakesh, following which Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar held a press conference and said that the the IDs “appear to belong to slum-dwellers of the area".

“An investigation is being conducted by the district electoral officer and three observers, Kumar said, adding that over one lakh chits that “looked like counter foils of elections" were found but not all are genuine. He said that the probe will ascertain the significance of the chits.

The BJP alleged that the apartment belonged to a Congress lawmaker. The Congress said that the apartment is owned by a BJP leader and said their “lies have been exposed."

Highlighting the seriousness of the matter, the chief electoral officer further said that the number of voters in R R Nagar is "quite high" compared to the state average. "There are 4,35,439 voters in main rolls of RR Nagar. This poll has seen a rise of 44,837," he said.

In a late press conference, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said,"The Election Commission has clearly said that Congress legislator Manjula Nanjamari had rented the flat to her son Rakesh, who contested the 2015 BBMP elections on BJP ticket. As you can see in the this picture, BJP MLA candidate Muniraj Gowda is with BJP leader Rakesh -- the man in whose flat voter IDs were recovered. BJP's lies stand exposed."

As the matter escalated, former prime minister and JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda visited the place where the probe was being conducted and asked the chief electoral officer to take "suitable action", while Union parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar demanded to postpone the election to R R Nagar seat.

Kumar and Human Resource Development minister Prakash Javadekar, both said that they want polls in Badami to be conducted under vigil of paramilitary forces as IT raids saw huge cash seizures in the area.

Surjewala further demanded that Union Minister Prakash Javdekar should resign for his involvement in "the conspiracy and trying to subvert democracy".

Meanwhile, BJP accused Congress of resorting to "anti-democratic means to win loosing elections". "It is nothing new. They are in practice right from Indira Gandhi's period," the Karnataka BJP tweeted.

Union minister D V Sadanand Gowda said that it was Congress's "conspiracy" to portray Nanjamari and Rakesh as mother and son, and the Election Commission did not mention the relationship.