Police officials in Kalaburagi shut down an operation run by BJP IT cell
Meanwhile, police also confirmed that the person accused of organizing the call center is Sharan, who is the head of the BJP IT cell in Kalaburagi. Perhaps police officials locked down the office and registered a case under section 171 H of the IPC (Illegal payments in connection with an election) against Sharan and other party workers on Sunday. Hence if found guilty, the workers will be fined up to Rs 500 each.
Moreover, police have not been able to collect voice data, but suspect that party workers were using the office to call up voters and ask their voting preferences and persuading them to vote for the BJP. Accordingly, the BJP IT cell is known to target messages to voters via WhatsApp. In the run-up to the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections, the IT cell had created a network of over 40,000 WhatsApp groups at booth levels across the state.