The Election Commission of Karnataka has ordered an inquiry into the incident where a huge number of voter ID cards were found at an apartment in Bengaluru ahead of the Karnataka polls.

Election Commission on Tuesday confirmed that they have recovered 9,746 Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) cards from an apartment in Bengaluru’s Jalahalli area of Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency.

In a midnight briefing, Sanjiv Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer for Karnataka, said that the significance of the counterfoils can only be verified after due investigation.

“On preliminary investigation, these 9,746 EPIC cards are of actual electors and appear to be prima facie genuine. However, the significance of the counterfoils can only be verified after due investigation,” Kapoor said.

The commission also said that an FIR was being filed to investigate the matter.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday night demanded countermanding of the May 12 elections in Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency of Karanataka in the light of latest revelations of seizure of ‘fake’ voter ID.

“Congress is losing public support and they are trying hard to rig the upcoming elections in Karnataka by undemocratic ways. So, we demand countermanding of polls in Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency,” Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said.

In a series of tweets, Union Minister Sadanand Gowda alleged that the Congress candidate from Rajarajeshwarinagar, Munirathna Naidu, was behind the incident.

“Democracy (is) being attacked in Bengaluru. I am shocked at the incident. How can Congress candidate Munirathna Naidu run democracy at his will?” Gowda said in a several tweets.

The Congress party was quick to refute fake voter ID cards allegations leveled by the BJP and alleged that the flat the documents were recovered from belonged to a BJP leader.

Addressing the media in Bengaluru, Congress’s Randeep Surjewala claimed that Manjula Nanjamuri, who owned the flat from where the identity cards were recovered, is a BJP leader and an ex-corporator.

He alleged that the Nanjamuri rented her own flat to his son Rakesh, who contested corporation election on a BJP ticket in 2015.

“Who is Manjula Nanjamuri? She is a BJP leader and an ex-corporator. Who did she rent this house to? To Rakesh, who is Manjula’s son. He contested the corporation election on a BJP ticket in 2015 and lost to the Congress,” Randeep Surjewala, communication in-charge of Congress, said.

BJP’s Javadekar, however, said that Nanjamuri had left the party six years ago and was a Congress person now.

There are 4,35,439 voters with a 75.43 percentage elector to population ratio in the Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency.