Following allegations of voter data irregularities, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) filed a complaint with the Bengaluru city police to look into the matter. Rangappa, special commissioner (administration and elections) of BBMP, Thursday filed a complaint at the Halasuru Gate police station. A case has been registered under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The police have also named the Chilume Educational, Cultural and Rural Development and its representative Lokesh K M in the FIR. Thursday, Congress levelled allegations that NGOs such as Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust and DAP Hombale Private Ltd had collected key voter information after its staff posed as BLOs in various Assembly constituencies of Bengaluru city. Congress also alleged that key voter information was compiled by the NGO staff and uploaded on an app ‘Digital Sameeksha’ run by one of the NGOs. In the complaint, Rangappa said, "On 22 December 2018, Chilume was permitted to revise the voters list in coordination with Block Level Officer (BLO) where Aadhaar number has to be linked and several conditions were imposed. However, on 2 November 2022, though the permission letter was cancelled, Lokesh K M, who represents Chilume organisation, created a fake ID card stating that he was the BLO and directly visited the houses of the people to collect their voter ID cards and Aadhaar card details. He has taken personal data of the public illegally to upload it to an application to misuse it." This is the second FIR registered by the BBMP officials against the agency. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka, Manoj Kumar Meena, Thursday said that no permission for survey was granted by BBMP or the district election officer to any NGO. Meena added the permission given to create awareness to Chilume Trust was withdrawn by the District Election Officer, BBMP immediately after receiving the complaint against it. “Electoral Officer of the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency has already filed a complaint at Whitefield Police station regarding the misuse of a BLO ID card. District Election Officer, BBMP is being asked to conduct a detailed enquiry and if any institution or an individual is found violating any law, action will be taken accordingly," Meena added.
