Voter ID case; FIR registered against sitting Cong MLA

Two days after the discovery of a huge cache of Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) at an apartment here, police today registered an FIR namingsitting Congress MLA Munirathna as one of the accused.

Briefing reporters, the chief electoral officer of Karnataka Sanjeev Kumar said all the reports on the case had been submitted to the Election Commission of India.

Similarly, the deputy commissioner had visited the spot, gathered information and sent a report to headquarters.

He said the commission would take a decision soon whether to countermand the election in Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly constituency where the seizures were made.

Declining to divulge more information, Kumar said, "Everydetail of the FIR cannot be shared but what you are saying (about the sitting MLA being an accused) is a fact.."
"Some of them are as old as 2012, which cannot be manufactured overnight."
"Systematically, it is for influencing the voters. That is very much there. That is the precise case."
To a question whether a person accused of electoral malpractice can contest elections, Kumar said, "Let us not jump to conclusion. FIR is not a charge sheet. FIR is not even a conviction. There are three stages."