K'taka CEO directs district authorities to check voter survey by private agencies
Bengaluru, Dec 16: With reports about private agencies conducting door-to-door survey of voters even after the alleged electoral data theft scam coming to light, the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka Manoj Kumar Meena on Friday directed the district election officers not to allow such activities by private agencies.
In a statement, Meena said there were some media reports that in a few districts some private agencies visited houses and procured personal information of the voters either manually or through IT applications.
"In this regard, the Election Commission of India has directed all District Election Officers to take adequate steps to ensure that any potential capture of data by any private agency by way of house to house survey, use of misleading I-cards, any attempt of voter data collection either by a private entity or otherwise and any authentication/NoC by DEOs/EROs to any private entity is strictly prohibited," the order said.
The order came at a time when the director and executive of a private entity Chilume Educational, Cultural and Rural Development Institute (Chilume Trust) were arrested on charges of issuing booth-level officers card to their employees in an unauthorised way.
According to the government authorities, only the retired government employees should be hired by the government agency as the Booth-level Officers (BLO) and no one else. Anyone else becoming BLO is impersonation, they added.
The Congress has alleged that the Chilume Trust was stealing voter data and was involved in the addition and deletion of voters from the electoral roll.
Based on the charges, the Election Commission has directed the scrutiny of electoral rolls in three Assembly constituencies of Bengaluru and suspension of two Indian Administrative Service officers.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
