Card row: EC sends senior official to Karnataka

The Election Commission today sent a deputy election commissioner as a 'special observer' to Karnataka after recovery of nearly 10,000 "fake" voter ID cards in Rajrajeshwari Nagar assembly seat of the state.

Deputy EC Chandrabhushan Kumar was sent this afternoon to the state and will submit a report to the poll panel at the earliest, the Commission officials said, amid a raging war of words between Congress and BJP over the incident.

Citing details provided by the state poll machinery, sources said prima facie, some of the the cards recovered seem original.

"Now we have to ensure that genuine voters can cast their votes using voter slips distributed to electors. Also, the machinery has to ensure that no voter is intimidated," an official said.

The recovery of the 'fake' voter cards has prompted the BJP to demand countermanding of the election claiming Congress was behind the racket, a charge dismissed by the latter as a "lie".

Karnataka chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar told a press conference in Karnataka that till now, two persons have been arrested. More arrests are likely and the case is already under investigation.

With just three days left before Karnataka goes to poll, the BJP and Congress, the two main contenders for power, went after each other claiming that the flat -- from where the cards were recovered -- belonged to a woman associated with the rival party.