BENGALURU: WhatsApp messages sent to voters by sitting MLA and BJP candidate for Malleswaram assembly constituency C N Ashwath Narayan has triggered an outrage on social media. The issue was how Narayan, who is also a cabinet minister in the current Basavaraj Bommai government, got access to mobile numbers and other personal data of the voters in his constituency.
The online news portal The Wire, quoting Deccan Herald has reported that a voter has lodged a formal complaint with the returning officer of the constituency against Narayan.
The message sent to voters from the BJP MLA’s office, according to The Wire, included their names, voter ID card number, relatives’ names and the booth address. Naturally, the MLA also had access to voters’ corresponding mobile numbers.
The Deccan Herald report pointed out, “While candidates contesting elections have access to the electoral rolls in image format, the Election Commission does not share mobile numbers with any candidates, nor are the numbers linked to the voter ID.”
“These developments took place just after the controversy over the theft of electoral data involving NGO Chilume had rocked the state,” said the newspaper.
In November 2022, The News Minute and Pratidhvani, in a sensational joint investigation, had shown that Chilume (a private entity) had collected personal data from lakhs of voters in Bengaluru by posing as Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike officials.
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In another exclusive report by TNM last week, yet another Bengaluru-based private firm was shown to have been found selling voter data in bulk to candidates contesting the state assembly polls. The report said information about the latest firm’s illegal activities came to light after an independent candidate alerted the Election Commission of India on being approached by a seller of data.
Only ECI officials have access to such sensitive data. The TNM report published last April 26 said, “According to sources in the Election Commission, what is of concern is that the format of the data on sale is similar to the data stored on ERONET, a government portal with ECI data on voters that only election officials can access.”