Modi accuses Congress of bid to rig' via voter ID fraud

Bengaluru/New Delhi: The confiscation of 9,000-odd voter ID cards in Bengaluru proved a manna for Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the penultimate day of electioneering in Karnataka as he lambasted the ruling Congress for trying to rig the election with fake ID cards to prevent its imminent exit from power.

Addressing rallies in four key towns on Wednesday, Mr Modi said: “The Congress Party has slowed down its election rallies in the past few days on realising that the time has come to make an exit from the seat of power. You may have seen media reports that one lakh fake ID cards produced by the Congress Party have been seized already. What was the need for the Congress to resort to such tactics?” he asked, while alleging that the party was planning to resort to such tactics in 40-50 Assembly constituencies. The PM asked BJP workers to remain vigilant and not allow Congress leaders to succeed through such conspiracies.

Congress leaders on Wednesday however challenged Mr Modi to get the premises of top BJP leaders, including state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa, “checked” by the income-tax department instead of levelling allegations against its leaders, or enacting a “midnight drama” on the confiscation of voter ID cards in the city.

Party spokespersons Randeep Singh Surjewala and Priyanka Chaturvedi said: “We challenge the Prime Minister: Get the premises of all these leaders (Yeddyurappa and Reddy brothers) checked, instead of levelling allegations which have no foundation.”

Irked by the searches carried out in Badami and Chamundeshwar Assembly constituencies, where chief minister Siddaramaiah has entered the fray, Mr Surjewala wondered why Mr Modi did not initiate action against Mr Yeddyurappa, against whom as many as 15 cases of corruption are pending in the Supreme Court. Around 9,000 “fake” voter identity cards were recovered from a flat in a constituency in Karnataka, setting off a war of words between the Congress and the BJP, which demanded countermanding of the election for the seat, claiming the Congress was behind the racket, a charge the latter dismissed as a “lie”.

Karnataka’s chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar, however, told the media that the voter ID cards found at a flat in Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency looked genuine but a deputy election commissioner-rank official was rushing from New Delhi to Bengaluru for a probe.

“It was earlier suggested that somebody was trying to break into our (computer) system to prepare fake ID cards... that is not so,” he said, adding it was for the Election Commission to take a decision on whether to countermand the election or not.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said Congress candidate and sitting R.R. Nagar MLA Munirathna Naidu was behind the alleged racket, which was exposed by BJP worker Rakesh.

Congress spokesman Mr Surjawala hit right back, alleging that flat owner Manjula Nanjamari and Rakesh, who was dubbed by Mr Javadekar as the “whistleblower” in the matter, had BJP connections and both had contested the Bengaluru Municipal Corporation elections on saffron party tickets.

Both the Congress and the BJP rushed to the Election Commission, making allegations against each other and demanding action. The Congress delegation to the EC, led by senior party leader Anand Sharma, alleged the BJP was indulging in malpractices while the BJP team, comprising Union ministers J.P. Nadda, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Smriti Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan and S.S.  Ahluwalia, demanded the elections to Rajarajeshwari constituency must be countermanded.

After meeting the EC officials, Union minister Smriti Irani said: “Voter IDs are proof of voter confidence and to reinstate that, elections to Rajarajeshwari constituency must be countermanded, and we have put forward this demand to EC.”

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma alleged that a concerted attempt was being made by the ruling party at the Centre, with the assistance of Central agencies, to subvert the process of free and fair polls, target Congress candidates and carry out midnight raids.

BJP president Amit Shah also tweeted on the issue, saying: “Congress Party should be ashamed of themselves! Everything about their party is fake — their tears for the poor, their claims of development, their commitment to social justice. Now the Congress is using fake voter IDs to create fictitious voters and rig the 2018 Karnataka polls.”