Karnataka Congress leaders on Saturday called on Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Meena and submitted a petition alleging “large-scale electoral fraud, malpractice, and manipulation of voters’ list” in Bengaluru by the BJP government and demanded a probe under the supervision of the Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka.
A delegation of the BJP too met the CEO and said that the allegations of the Congress were “baseless and politically motivated.” Late on Saturday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai issued a statement rebutting the allegations and accused the Congress of roping in the NGO in the centre of the controversy, Chilume Educational, Cultural, and Rural Development Trust, first in 2017.
In its complaint, the Congress demanded the registration of criminal cases against the District Election Officer, Assembly constituency returning officers, and a revision of the voters’ list. A delegation led by Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah, KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar met the CEO and asked him to provide the voters’ list to all political parties and revision of the list by household survey by booth-level agents.
They named Mr. Bommai, Ministers C.N. Ashwath Narayan and Muniratna, the District Election Officer, the BBMP Chief Commissioner, directors of Chilume Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, Chilume and DAP Hombale Pvt. Ltd., the owners of Digital Samiksha app and other officials. The Congress leaders demanded the CEO to file criminal complaints against Mr. Bommai, Dr. Ashwath Narayan and others to ensure free and fair elections in Karnataka.
Later, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, and others held a press conference and said “in India’s history, this is one of the biggest scams to steal people’s right to vote”.
