Karnataka elections: BJP moves EC seeking countermand of poll in Rajarajeshwari Nagar seat

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to countermand the election in Rajarajeshwari Nagar seat after thousands of alleged fake voter ID cards were found there in a flat on Tuesday.

A BJP delegation, which included union ministers JP Nadda, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Smriti Irani among others, told the commission that scrapping the poll in the constituency was necessary to "reinstate people's faith" in the electoral process.

Irani said the issue was not only important for the BJP but also the commission as voter ID cards are seen an evidence of people's faith in the electoral process.
The delegation demanded a thorough probe into the matter to find out if similar methods were used in more constituencies.

Around 10,000 voter IDs and one lakh counterfoils found in a flat, owned by a Manjula Nanjamuri, in Bengaluru led to war of words between BJP and Congress in poll-bound Karnataka as both parties alleged that the other has tried to rig the elections.

This comes after a midnight press conference on Tuesday in which the Karnataka chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar said the seizures from a flat in the constituency in Bengaluru included 9,746 voter cards and roughly a hundred thousand "counterfoils" that resembled acknowledgement slips issued while adding names to the electoral roll.

Election Commission received a complaint about fake voter IDs in a flat in the Rajarajeshwari Nagar segment of the Bengaluru's southwest suburb.

After a surprise visit to the flat, the election body found nearly 9,746 voter ID, Five laptops and one printer along with over lakh slips resembling acknowledgement slips used for adding names into the electoral rolls, the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar told media in a late night presser.