BENGALURU: The agency at the epicentre of the alleged voter data theft in three Karnataka constituencies is a company registered with the Union ministry of corporate affairs and not the accredited NGO that civic authorities claimed it was, a probe instituted by the Election Commission has revealed.
Chilume Educational, Cultural and Rural Development Institute had been enlisted by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to update electoral rolls in the greater municipal corporation area, an exercise that it allegedly misused to selectively delete names of voters, farm data and sell it to interested parties.
“Chilume doesn’t figure in the repository of NGOs maintained by the Centre,” said regional commissioner Amlan Aditya Biswas, who is investigating the suspected data theft. “It is neither a trust nor a society. It was registered in 2018 as a private firm under the Companies Act. There is a specific government order that states NGOs can be roped in for election purposes, but our investigation has revealed Chilume isn’t one.”
Several representatives of Chilume, including its director Krishnappa Ravikumar, and a few civic officials linked to the alleged data theft were arrested last month. Two bureaucrats — Bengaluru Urban deputy commissioner K Srinivas and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike special commissioner S Rangappa — are under suspension.
BBMP had first engaged Chilume for revision of the electoral rolls in 2017 after officially identifying it as an NGO. The findings of the probe so far suggest the corporation didn’t run a background check before handing the firm the responsibility. “Chilume is not even registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act, which would have given it the status of a not-for-profit organisation,” an official said.
All payments by the civic authorities were in the name of “Chilume Trust”. Regional commissioner Biswas said the list of recognised NGOs includes a solitary organisation named Chilume Trust, registered in 2006 and founded in Kerala. The agency under investigation is registered as Chilume Enterprises Pvt Ltd.
N Manjunatha Prasad, principal secretary to CM Basavaraj Bommai, was the BBMP commissioner when Chilume got its first rolls revision job. He claimed the organisation may have forged documents to appear as an NGO while seeking to be involved in the exercise. “If they are found to have done so, they will be punished,” he said.
Three special officers are currently supervising an EC-mandated audit of all updates to the electoral rolls of Chickpet, Shivajinagar and Mahadevapura constituencies since January 1. The probe was instituted after Congress lodged a complaint with the EC last month alleging that 27 lakh names were deleted and 11 lakh added to the voters’ lists in the three constituencies. It said employees of a private company collected data, masquerading as government officials.
