9746 voter ID cards found at Bengaluru apartment genuine: Election Commission

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BENGALURU: Shortly after a huge number of voter ID cards were found at an apartment in Bengaluru's Jalahalli area, the Chief Electoral Officer on Tuesday held a press conference at his office on Seshadri Road. The press meet took place at 11.30 pm.

On preliminary investigation these 9746 EPIC cards are of actual electors & appear to be prima facie genuine. However the significance of the counterfoils can only be verified after due investigation: Election Commission pic.twitter.com/SILPgmrjnf — ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2018

A preliminary investigation has revealed that these 9746 EPIC cards are of actual electors and they appear to be prima facie genuine. "On preliminary investigation, these 9746 EPIC cards are of actual electors and appear to be prima facie genuine. However the significance of the counterfoils can only be verified after due investigation," Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar told ANI.

"An FIR has been registered and further investigations will be conducted. The situation is being closely monitored by the Election Commission and appropriate action will be taken," Kumar added.

Earlier on Tuesday, a huge number of voter ID cards were found at an apartment in Jalahalli area of Bengaluru. Following this, Union Minister Sadanand Gowda hit out at the ruling Congress in poll-bound Karnataka and said that the democracy has been attacked in the state's capital.

In a series of tweets, Gowda alleged that the Congress candidate from Rajarajeshwari Nagara, Munirathna Naidu, is behind this.

On the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding to countermand of elections in Raja Rajeshwari Nagar constituency, the EC further said, "This is certainly a serious matter we can't decide it here. We don't understand the significance of this. Counterfoils are there. Whether they really are the electors or not, it is yet to see."

"In Raja Rajeshwari Nagar constituency, there are 4,35,439 electors with EP ratio of 75.43. During last special summary revision, 25,825 additions are there, 19,012 additions were done during continuous operation. There have been total deletions of 8817 persons," the Commission added.

Karnataka polls are scheduled to be held in a single phase on May 12 and the counting of votes will be done on May 15.

The 224-member Assembly expires on May 28 in the state where the Congress is currently in power, with 122 seats against the BJP's 43. Karnataka is one of the eight states where polls were scheduled this year.

While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress is eyeing a second term in the state, BJP wants to spread its wings to the 22nd state.