Breaking his silence over the controversy, Muniratna, incumbent MLA of R.R. Nagar constituency, held a press conference on Thursday and called the incident a “desperate” attempt to snatch votes away from the Congress.
To defend himself, he arranged for representatives of the slum from where the voter ID cards were allegedly taken, and the two persons alleged to have taken the flat on rent. Mr. Muniratna said the slum had been a Congress stronghold for over two decades, negating the need for the party to resort to such measures.
Abdul Razak, a resident of the slum and member of the committee in the mosque in Lakshmidevinagar, said, “Some people asked us for our voter IDs and told us that they would deposit ₹5 lakh in each of our new zero accounts. We don’t know which party the people were from,” he said.
Mr. Muniratna said the Election Commission countermanding the elections in R.R. Nagar constituency would set a “bad precedent”.
“In future elections, anyone can confiscate some thousand voter IDs and get elections countermanded,” he said.