In a recent political controversy in Karnataka, an NGO fraudulently collected private information of voters by making their agents pose as government officials in Bengaluru’s Shivajinagar.
The NGO — Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust — covertly collected personal information from thousands of voters in city by making their field agents pose as government officials, according to an investigation by The News Minute.
The data theft was enabled through a government order by BBMP on August 20 that allowed the NGO to “create awareness” about voter rights and the revision of electoral rolls.
On Wednesday, the BBMP had cancelled the permission given to the NGO to conduct door-to-door visits to “create awareness” among the public on online application via Voter Helpline Mobile App pertaining to voter ID saying that it “violated the conditions of the permission.”
During their brief, the NGO signed sub-contracts with other agencies and employed hundreds of field agents, who were issued fake ID cards and identified themselves as government officials. The field agents made voters share personal information such as their Aadhaar number, voter ID number, phone number and address.
However, it is unclear if Chilume or any of its sub-contractors were involved in the exercise in Shivajinagar, the TNM reported. Several residents have complained that the ‘booth level officer’ said that names of voters will be deleted.
The allegations were raised by residents of Shivajinagar and confirmed by Geetha V, an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) worker who is a booth level officer in the area.
“A few people had approached voters in my area asking for details including Aadhaar number and voter ID number. When I cross-checked, I found that at least 20 people who were marked for deletion from the electoral rolls were still living in the constituency,” Geetha told TNM.
Zareena Taj, a 34-year-old resident of Shivajinagar, told the web portal, “Officials claiming to be from the BBMP came to our home claiming that they will delete us from the electoral list. Our neighbours informed them that we are living nearby but the officials did not reach out to us. Now, we don’t know whether our names have been deleted from the voter list or not.”
Blaming the BJP government for the data theft, Congress has demanded chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s resignation over the matter.
However, the chief minister refuted the allegations saying the opposition party was running out of ideas.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Congress general secretary and the party’s Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “The shocking expose has revealed that those sitting in the citadels of power, including Bommai, are overtly and covertly responsible for theft of voter data, fraud and impersonation through brazen misdemeanours.”
Surjewala alleged that “the chief minister was the conduit of the electoral fraud”, and said, “there has to be an FIR against Basavaraj Bommai and he should be arrested.”
Hitting back at the Congress party’s claims, Bommai announced that he will order a comprehensive probe into the issue and maintained that the Congress’ demand for resignation was “ridiculous.”
“Let the truth come out. I am handing over the case for a comprehensive probe. Right from the first direction of the Election Commission, everything will be probed,” he added.
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Rabia Shireen is a Staff Reporter at The Cognate.
