Private company in Bengaluru found selling bulk voter data to candidates in Karnataka Assembly polls
Cyber Crime Branch officials file FIR against company
New Delhi: At the threshold of the Assembly elections in the state, a private firm in Bengaluru has been found selling voter data in bulk.
While the owners are yet to be traced, the company has been found advertising on its website openly that it has ‘sensitive information’ related to voters, including their mobile phone numbers and WhatsApp numbers, reports The News Minute.
The potential clients are given login access by the company and can purchase the voters’ information and other services from the website, for as low a price as Rs 25,000.
Investigation on the domain details of the website revealed that it was registered in Delhi in April this year, but all other details on the website had been redacted by the company.
The Election Commission has been investigating if the company could have been used to bribe the voters to provide such information, by crediting funds into the voters’ accounts through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
The matter of the data sale by the company came to light when Raju, an independent candidate, informed the EC after he was called on phone and offered voter data for a price. Raju spoke to Srinivas, the officer in-charge of enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, about the matter. The officer, in turn, roped in the police, who registered a complaint on April 24.
An FIR has also been registered by the Cyber Crime Branch (Southeast Division) officers in Bengaluru against the private company in this regard.
On logging in to the website of the private company, it was found that the dashboard declared that the website contained data of up to 6.5 lakh voters, including 3.45 lakh male, 2.93 lakh female and 5,600 other voters. It is yet to be confirmed about the total data that the company has and if the data pertains to specific constituencies, says The News Minute.
Sources in the EC have expressed concern that the format of the data being sold is similar to what is stored on Eronet, the government portal with the EC data on voters and which only election officials can access.
This is the second voter scam discovered in Karnataka in the last six months. In November 2022, ‘Chilume’, a private company, was found to have collected personal data from lakhs of Bengaluru voters. The company staff had posted it as officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Paliker (BBMP).
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Senior TV anchor Rahul Kanwal quits India Today group
New Delhi, Apr 3 (PTI): Senior journalist and Television anchor Rahul Kanwal on Thursday resigned from the India Today Group after being associated with the diversified media conglomerate for 22 years.
Kanwal, who is the News Director, India Today and Aaj Tak and Executive Director, Business Today, sent in his resignation letter to Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson and Executive Editor-in-Chief TV Today Network.
In an email to the staff of the TV Today Network, Purie said Rahul will be moving on to explore new opportunities.
"After more than 22 years with us, Rahul Kanwal - News Director, TVTN, and Executive Director of Business Today - will be moving on to explore new opportunities," Purie said.
"Rahul has been an integral part of our leadership team, shaping television news with his sharp political insights, election coverage, and investigative reporting at India Today and Aaj Tak. His career, from a passionate journalist to a News Director, has been nothing short of remarkable, setting an inspiring precedent for aspiring journalists in our organization,” Purie said.
Purie said Rahul’s story is the quintessential India Today Group narrative--an extraordinary journey of organic growth, limitless opportunities, and a meteoric rise that benefited both sides.
In his resignation letter, Rahul said leading the India Today and Aaj Tak newsrooms has been the "greatest honour of his life".
The TV Today Network also intimated the Bombay Stock Exchange about Rahul's resignation. The company has accepted his resignation, it said.
