Voter ID cards collected as security for goodies: cops

A day after the raid and seizure of 9,746 original voter ID cards from a flat in Jalahalli under Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly constituency, the police on Wednesday collected a few cards to trace its holders.

The police suspect these cards were taken from the holders as collateral security in exchange of goodies/cash distributed by political parties. However, inquiries and investigations so far have not revealed the involvement of any particular political party, police sources said.

During Tuesday’s seizure, it was noticed that cards were stored in bundles of 200 wrapped in paper with a name and phone number on each bundle. The police suspect that these smaller bundles belonged to groups of voters who were expected to vote for a particular party and monitored by a person whose name was mentioned on the bundle.

Enquiries with card holders are under way to confirm if this was the suspect’s plan. The police are also questioning over a dozen people whose names were mentioned on these bundles, an officer privy to the investigation said.

The police also suspect that many such bundles may have been taken away by occupants of flats. The investigation is taking time since the police need to go through two large steel trunks with counterfoils resembling acknowledgement slips of Form-6 used for addition of names to the electoral rolls.

The election commission on Tuesday said over one lakh counterfoils were found.