The cybercrime police have registered a case against unknown persons for allegedly including names of bogus voters on the electoral rolls of several constituencies in the city by forging the approval of election officials.
The inclusion, which was reportedly done on January 22, came to light on April 18 when R. Munilakshmi, returning officer (RO) for the Shanthinagar Assembly constituency, was revising the approved list. Ms. Munilakshmi is in charge of enrolling voters in the revised list and is authorised to approve them in the constituency which has 197 polling booths.
“Someone illegally included the names in the approved list by forging the consent,” she has said in her complaint.
The matter was brought to the notice of senior officers, who directed her to file a case against those involved in the scam.
Thy cybercrime police, who have booked the case under various sections of the IT Act and also under forgery and cheating charges, are in the process of identifying the perpetrators.
Not just in Shantinagar
District Election Officer and BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad told The Hindu that the login ID, password and digital key given to returning officers (ROs) to update the voters’ list had been misused by individuals to add the names illegally. He, however, said the system was foolproof as the names added by outsiders by misusing the authentic digital keys did not have supporting documents in the database and were flagged as fake.
“In Shantinagar, there were nearly 300 such entries which we deleted. Similar instances were reported from Yelahanka and Dasarahalli Assembly constituencies, where too we reported to the Election Commission and deleted those fake entries,” he said. He added that investigation was on to ascertain whose digital key was compromised among the ROs and a case would be registered against them as well.
