Karnataka Assembly elections 2018: Day before polls, voting deferred in RR Nagar over huge voter ID cards' recovery

BENGALURU: A day before Karnataka Assembly elections, the voting in Rajarajeshwari Nagar Nagar constituency has been deferred after a huge number of voter ID cards were recovered from an apartment in Bengaluru.

The polling in RR Nagar has been re-scheduled for May 28 while the counting and results will be done and announced on May 31.

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

The development comes just days after a huge number of voter ID cards were found at an apartment in Jalahalli area of Bengaluru.

Nearly 10,000 voter ID cards were seized from a flat in Jalahalli in RR Nagar on Tuesday. Thousands of counterfoils of Form 6 used for inclusion of names in electoral rolls were seized too.

The flying squad that reached the spot on a tip-off found a few pamphlets featuring sitting Congress MLA N Muniratna that led to BJP and JD(S) demanding the poll be countermanded. 

However, it later turned out that the house belonged to BJP leader Manjula Nanjamari and the tenant Rakesh, also a BJP worker, is her close relative. This had prompted the Congress to point fingers at the saffron party.

Earlier in the day, a delegation of Congress leaders met the poll panel officials. This came a day after the Election Commission deferred a decision on the recovery of nearly 10,000 voter ID cards from a flat in RR Nagar Assembly seat of poll-bound Karnataka.

With just a day left for Karnataka to go to polls, both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP have entered a high-pitched battle on the ground and on social media.

The BJP is eyeing to dethrone the Congress government in Karnataka, which is headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

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