BJP is allowed fresh nominee for Jayanagar poll

If a poll is countermanded owing to the death of a candidate, only the party concerned is allowed to name a fresh nominee, the Election Commission has clarified.

Speaking to DH about the countermanding of the Jayanagar Assembly election, Dr Mamatha B K, returning officer, said: "As per Section 52 (2) (c) of the Representation of the People Act, when a candidate dies after the last date for the withdrawal of nomination, only the party concerned will be allowed to field a candidate. We have to allow only a state or national party to field a new candidate. The Election Commission notification was issued with the specific purpose of giving an opportunity to the BJP candidate."

The nomination of candidates fielded by other parties will remain unchanged.

"When the BJP candidate died, the ballot papers were printed, EVMs were ready and poll symbols had been loaded to the VVPAT machines," Mamatha said.

The Election Commission allowed the BJP candidate to file nomination papers until 3 pm on Friday.

Accordingly, B N Prahlad filed his nomination papers as the BJP candidate on Friday. He is the brother of B N Vijaya Kumar, the sitting MLA who died on May 4. The poll will now be held on June 11, while the votes will be counted on June 13.

A total of 19 candidates are in the fray, including the Congress' Sowmya Reddy, the daughter of former home minister Ramalinga Reddy, and Kalegowda of the JD(S).

Prahlad was accompanied by Union minister Ananth Kumar and B Muralidhar Rao, BJP national general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, while filing his papers. In an affidavit to the Election Commission, Prahlad said he had Rs 1.02 crore of movable assets and immovable assets worth Rs 50 lakh.