Bengaluru
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath, who is also the Bengaluru City District Election Officer, said there have been no cases of alleged digital bribes found in the city so far.
Mr. Giri Nath on Tuesday participated in the ‘Meet the Press’ event organised by the Press Club of Bangalore and answered several questions posed by journalists on the Karnataka assembly elections and preparations by the BBMP.
Answering a question by reporters on UPI payments of bribes to voters by candidates, he said, “We have been continuously monitoring such digital bribes through UPI payments during the elections. We have been in touch with UPI payment companies and have told them to bring it to the notice of the BBMP if such suspicious transactions occur through UPI. These companies have also done dump analysis. However, so far in the city, we have not got any such cases.”
The Election Commission is monitoring the distribution of money through wallets and online payment platforms. Earlier, the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Meena had said that the Commission is collecting data on bulk transfer of small amounts from bank accounts and analysing it.
Chilume not qualified in any tender
Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust, which was involved in an alleged voter data theft case in the city, has not qualified in any BBMP tender, clarified Mr. Giri Nath.
After reports alleging that the blacklisted Chilume had participated in multiple tenders related to the supply of stationery and other materials for this election, BBMP Chief Commissioner said that the NGO has not qualified in any election-related tenders.
In December last year, after the alleged voters’ data theft by the Chilume came to light, the BBMP had barred the NGO from service and procurement tender survey or campaigns of the civic body.
In March 2018, permission was granted by the BBMP to the Chilume for house-to-house visits to create awareness towards making online applications via the voters’ helpline mobile app.
On November 2 last year, the BBMP revoked the trust’s permission to carry out the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign after receiving several complaints from residents that the NGO was collecting personal details while conducting door-to-door surveys by deputing field-level workers.
The trust has been accused of collecting the personal information of voters, with its members posing as BBMP officials in some cases.
