BENGALURU: Election Commission officials said on Wednesday the decision whether to countermand Rajarajeshwarinagar polls will be taken on Thursday. The demand for scrapping the polls comes in the wake of recovery and seizure of 9,896 voter ID cards, which were prima facie found to be genuine.
These, along with 6,342 voter application acknowledgement receipts with BBMP seal, and another 20,700 acknowledgement receipts without BBMP seals, were also seized by EC officials and the police on Tuesday evening from a flat in Sharadambha Nagar area in Jalahalli, which falls in Rajarajeshwarinagar assembly constituency.
Following this, the BJP and JD(S) had demanded countermanding of RR Nagar polls. EC officials said they will take a decision in this regard only after representations from the parties are heard on Thursday morning. They said voters can still vote without voter ID cards as long as their names are there on the voters’ list.
Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar clarified to reporters that no one had broken into the ECI’s system to create fake EPIC cards and denied the possible involvement of EC staff in the matter.He said an inference can be drawn that a detailed survey was done before collecting those cards to know the vulnerable voters to induce them through bribing.
Both BJP and Congress approached the Election Commission in Delhi on Wednesday, and the Commission directed the police and Karnataka’s Chief Election Officer to investigate the matter.