Bengaluru, Nov 26, 2022, IANS

Bengaluru, Nov 26 (IANS) Congress' Karnataka state unit in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala has alleged that the BJP-led Union government is involved in the voters' ID scam.

"The Central government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is directly involved in stealing data from voters. The funds have been transferred from the bank account of a company run by the Central government to many persons, who hail from the place where Ravikumar of Chilume Institute, the main accused in the scam," Surjewala said on Friday.

This is the evidence which proves direct involvement of the Union government in the scam, he added.

"Large amount of money has been transferred from the account of a company run by the Central government. Along with stealing of voters' data, the tax money of the common people has been looted," the Congress leader alleged.

It is clear that the Central government is involved with the state government led by the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in the voter ID scam, he said.

"There is an angle of illegal transfer of money in the scam. It is not only about data theft. The probe has to be conducted under the monitoring of Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court," Surjewala added.

State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar said that money transfer has been made into the accounts of farmers belonging to the same place as of the kingpin Ravikumar.

The money has been taken back from the farmers, he alleged.

The Congress leaders have been directed to verify the deletion of names of voters from minority communities, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and others.

Congress has alleged that names of more than 20 lakh voters have been deleted from the voters' list in Karnataka by the BJP government.

However, the BJP has said that the Congress is worried over deletion of duplicate voters which it had settled down in Bengaluru Assembly constituencies from other neighbouring states.