VOTER DATA
1. Context
Bengaluru's civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said in a press release that it had cancelled permissions granted to the Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust to conduct house-to-house surveys to help create awareness about the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) Programme. The NGO has been accused of collecting personal information from the public, under the guise of spreading awareness by impersonating BBMP officials.
2. Voter data
- In 2018, the chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust was granted permission to carry out house-to-house visits to create awareness on how to access online applications vis the voters' helpline mobile app.
- 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 the voters, including Aadhaar number, phone number, and voter ID number, was uploaded on an app (Digital Sameeksha) developed by the Trust and do not on the Election Commission's voter registration app (Garuda) or voter helpline.
- The opposition has accused the NGO of large-scale electoral fraud, malpractice, and manipulation of voters list.
3. What has been the fallout?
The BBMP has registered two FIRs in Bengaluru against the NGO under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), section 419 (Cheating by Personation), section 420 (Cheating), and section 468 (Forgery) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Police are also analyzing the app to ascertain what data was collected and for whom it was meant. Electronic devices were recovered from the premises of the offices of the Trust in Malleswaram in west Bengaluru through which the police are attempting to recover the data which has potential for misuse.
4. violations
- Such mass collection of data is a violation of the fundamental right to privacy as defined in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India. The judgement formally recognised the right to privacy as being a fundamental right stemming from the right to life and personal liberty, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian constitution.
- The data which was collected by the NGO has the potential for misuse according to experts and election watchers.
- Activist and Electoral rolls analyst P.C. Bhat said that while a probe would act as a deterrence, he was sceptical about data recovery.
- Any number of copies of the data could be anywhere in the world on the cloud. It is practically impossible to prevent the data from falling into the hands of those who are ready to pay for it.
For Prelims
| For Prelims: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP), sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), section 419 (Cheating by Personation), section 420 (Cheating), and section 468 (Forgery) and article 21 of the Indian constitution. |
Source: The Hindu
