File photo of people checking their names in the voter ID list during the Lok Sabha elections in Bengaluru in 2018. photo credit: Bhagya Prakash
the story So Far:
On 16 November, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bengaluru’s civic body, said in a press release that it has revoked the permission granted to the Chilum Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust to conduct a house-to-house survey to create awareness. can help to do. Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme. The NGO has been accused of collecting personal information from the public in the guise of spreading awareness by impersonating BBMP officials. The Congress-led opposition has alleged that this was done in connivance with the ruling BJP government. The BJP, however, denied the allegations and hit back, alleging that the NGO was earlier given permission by the previous Congress government.
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What is the matter of voter data theft?
In 2018, the Chilum Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust was given permission to go door-to-door to create awareness on how to get online applications through the Voter Helpline mobile app. On 2 November, the BBMP revoked this permission after receiving several complaints from residents that the NGO was collecting personal details while conducting door-to-door surveys by deputing field-level workers. The BBMP has admitted that the personal information of voters, including Aadhaar numbers, phone numbers and voter ID numbers, was uploaded on an app (Digital Samiksha) developed by the trust and not the Election Commission’s voter registration app (Garuda ) or on the voter. Helpline. The opposition has accused the NGO of widespread electoral fraud, malpractice and manipulation of voter lists.
What was the result?
The BBMP has registered two FIRs in Bengaluru against the NGO under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 419 (cheating by persona), 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code. On 20 November, the police arrested Krishnappa Ravikumar, the co-founder of Chillum Trust, who had been on the run since the scam. The police have also arrested Kempegowda, one of the directors of the trust, and taken into custody the chief software developer of the Digital Samiksha app. Besides this, notices have been issued to revenue officials, who are in charge of electoral roll revision and linking of Aadhaar card with electoral rolls. The police are also analyzing the app to find out what data was collected and for whom. Electronic devices were recovered from the premises of the trust’s offices at Malleshwaram in west Bengaluru, through which police are trying to recover data that has potential for misuse.
What will happen to the data?
Like this bulk collection of data There is a violation of the fundamental right to privacy as defined in the jurisprudence KS Puttaswamy (Retd.) Vs. Union of India. The judgment formally recognized the right to privacy as a fundamental right stemming from the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. According to experts and election watchers, there is a possibility of misuse of data collected by NGOs. Activist and electoral roll analyst PG Bhat said that although a probe would act as a deterrent, he was skeptical about data recovery. “Any number of copies of data can be anywhere in the world on the cloud. It is practically impossible to prevent data from falling into the hands of people who are willing to pay for it. Even before this scam came to light, voter lists Many irregularities have been done with the figures.