Explained: The big voters’ ‘data theft’ controversy rocking Bengaluru

It is an alleged breach of privacy, one that could compromise any election exercise. An investigation has revealed that a private non-profit organisation collected voters’ data in Bengaluru while its agents posed as officials of the government.

Congress has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka had misused the information and accused it of violating norms laid down by the Election Commission (EC).

We take a look at the controversy and the tussle between the two political parties over the alleged fraud.

Was voters’ data stolen in Bengaluru?

According to an investigation by The News Minute and the Kannada outlet Pratidvani, Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Institute, a non-government organisation, was permitted by the Bengaluru civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), to conduct an exercise on voter awareness – the Systematic Voters Education and Elect Participation (SVEEP). The NGO was also tasked with revising electoral polls ahead of the 2018 state Assembly elections.

However, the non-profit, which claimed they would survey for free, allegedly misused the government order. The Chilume Institute issued fake identity cards to its field agents, who posed as booth-level officers of the BBMP, the investigative report says.

The agents collected personal information from voters about their caste, mother tongue, marital status, age, gender, employment and education details. Their Aadhaar and phone numbers, home addresses, voter ID numbers and email addresses were also reportedly collected.

The information gathered surreptitiously from voters has great commercial value. Private organisations could pay big bucks for it. It is priceless data for politicians, a report in The News Minute says.

Was the data misused?

Congress has alleged that the data has been misused by the BJP and that the NGO was linked to Karnataka minister Dr CN Ashwathnarayan. According to Congress, the names of several voters were removed from the list to help BJP leaders win the election in Bengaluru.

“How was a private entity allowed to collect information? How can contract employees of a private company masquerade themselves as government workers and collect information about sex, gender, voter ID number, Aadhaar, marital status etc, which is protected under the Right to Privacy Act?” Randeep Singh Surjewala, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, asked at a press conference last week.

The Karnataka Congress has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. As the CM was in charge of Bengaluru Urban district, he was directly responsible for the illegalities committed there, Surjewala said, alleging that the exercise was an effort to “steal the elections”.

Congress had lodged a complaint with Chief Electoral Office Manoj Kumar alleging electoral fraud, malpractice, and manipulation of voters’ list were committed by Ashwathnarayan, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath and directors of Chilume.

What are the BBMP and the BJP saying?

After the media exposé, the BBMP cancelled permission to Chilume but officials did not explain the reasons for its withdrawal. Both BBMP and EC officials told The News Minute that despite cancelling the order, data has not been retrieved from Chilume and its subcontractors.

The BBMP claimed that Chilume was allowed to conduct house-to-house visits to create awareness for online applications via the voter helpline mobile app and nothing else. Last week, the civic body acknowledged that the NGO had “violated the conditions of permission”.

“I appeal to the general public not to share their voter id details to the representatives of the trust. The trust has violated the conditions of the permission. The Election Commission has received complaints from the public that the trust was collecting personal information. Therefore the permission is cancelled,” BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said.

However, Nath claimed that the civic body has not found any evidence of data theft. The BBMP has filed a police complaint against the NGO since “we too have a doubt”, he said, according to a report in The Hindu.

Meanwhile, the CM has ordered a probe into the alleged scandal. “I have directed the officials concerned to probe the case from 2013,” Bommai told reporters.

According to the CM, Congress had roped in the same NGO when it was in power from 2013 to 2018. He alleged that the Congress’ contract was rife with violations and irregularities as compared with the one entered by the BJP government.

What has the EC said?

Manoj Kumar Meena, Karnataka’s chief electoral officer, said last week that no permission for the survey was granted by the BBMP or the district electoral officer to any NGO. The permission to create awareness was withdrawn immediately after receiving the complaint against Chilume.

Has any action been taken against Chilume?

The police have arrested three people from the NGO for the alleged voter data theft – Dharesh, the HR, one of its directors Renuka Prasad, and the brother of its founder-director Krishnappa Ravi Kumar.

Kumar, however, is still on the run.

The non-profit was registered in July 2013 by five people including Kumar. The three directors of the trust registered another firm called Chilume Enterprises Pvt Lit in January 2018, which specialises in event management and election management.

It also operates a voter survey app called “Digital Sameeksha” on which the personal data collected by Chilume’s workers was uploaded.

With inputs from agencies

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