Who had taken the Jalahalli flat on rent?

Confusion over the issue as BJP, Congress make contrary claims

There is confusion as to who had rented the flat at Jalahalli here where thousands of voter ID cards were found on Tuesday, with the BJP and the Congress making contrary claims.

Sanjiv Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, told reporters late on Tuesday night that the flat belonged to Manjula Nanjamari and was rented by one Rakesh. This set off a series of claims and counterclaims.

The Congress claimed that both Ms. Nanjamari and Mr. Rakesh were BJP workers and hence the operations in the flat should be attributed to that party.

Though the BJP admitted that Rakesh was its worker, it claimed he had not taken the flat on rent. The BJP claimed that Ms. Nanjamari did not belong to the party.

Mr. Rakesh, president of the Jalahalli ward committee of the BJP, told The Hindu he was a nephew of Ms. Nanjamari, but their families had parted ways a decade ago. “In fact, I led a BJP team that barged into the flat on Tuesday and exposed what was happening there,” he claimed. Ms. Nanjamari said she had not rented out the flat to her nephew, but to one Rekha Anjan on April 5. “She was introduced by Rangaraju, another tenant of my flat. I did not know they were up to this,” she said.

However, contrary to the BJP’s claim, Ms. Nanjamari said she was still a BJP worker. “I heard (Union Minister) Prakash Javadekar has disowned me. But the fact remains that I am an RSS worker and was elected a councillor from the BJP from Jalahalli in 1997. I am no longer active in politics owing to my ill-health, but I am not with the Congress,” she said.