K'taka polls: After voter ID row, voting in Rajarajeshwari Nagar deferred

Bengaluru: Voting in Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency where nearly 10,000 voter cards were found in an apartment days ahead of the Karnataka Assembly polls has been has been deferred to May 28, the Election Commission decided on Friday.

The decision of the Elections Commission comes hours before the rest of Karnataka will go to vote to elect the next government in the state. Counting of votes in this seat will take place on May 31.

The BJP had alleged that the apartment was linked to a lawmaker of the state's ruling Congress. The Congress hit back, accusing the BJP of enacting a "drama" of raiding an apartment owned by a local BJP leader and planting "fake evidence".

Also Read: Karnataka polls 2018: EC seizes 10,000 voter IDs from Bengaluru apartment

The Election Commission order said it was important to defer the election for the time being so that the "vitiating effect of the distribution of money and gift items to the electors loses its intensity" and the voter ID cards were returned to the electorals.