Voter data theft: 2 Chilume staffers in police custody, Halasuru

BENGALURU: Following the arrests of two more accused -- Maruti Gowda and Abhishek -- in connection with the alleged voter data theft on Wednesday, the Halasuru Gate police on Thursday produced five staffers of NGO Chilume before the trial court.

The Magistrate Court had remanded accused Dharmesh, Renuka Prasad and Anil Kumar to eight-day police custody which ended on Thursday. They were remanded in judicial custody.

Officers of Halasooru Gate police said that Gowda and Abhishek had allegedly helped the main accused Ravikumar in tampering with voters’ data and impersonating as booth level officers, who carried fake booth-level committee cards. The court then sent Gowda and Abhishek to six days of police custody.

As a result of the alleged scam, four BBMP Revenue officers VB Bheemashankar (Chickpet), Suhail Ahmed (Shivajinagar), K Chandrasekhar (Mahadevapura), and Mahesh (RR Nagar) were suspended.
They were later arrested by officers of the Halasuru Gate police for allegedly helping the NGO by providing fake ID cards.

The incident also led to the suspension of S Rangappa, Special Commissioner, BBMP Administration, and K Srinivas, Bengaluru Urban DC by the Election Commission.

EC DEADLINE FOR REVISING VOTERS’ LIST IS DEC 24
The Secretariat of the Election Commission of India has extended the last date for filing claims and objections pertaining to Shivajinagar, Chickpet and Mahadevapura till December 24 in connection with the revision of electoral rolls. The Election Commission also told the state election commission to complete its door-to-door survey as per the set directions and protocols.

The commission also directed the state poll panel to speed up the process as from November 9 to December 1, a mere 23 per cent has been completed for 28 assembly constituencies. The commission held a meeting with the state poll panel and district election officers on Thursday to assess the issue.