Gundlupet bypoll: BJP fears violence by Cong, petitions EC

The state BJP on Friday petitioned the Election Commission of India through the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka to declare 43 polling booths in the Gundlupet Assembly constituency, which is witnessing a bypoll, as hypersensitive and deploy paramilitary forces on election day.

The petitioned signed by party National Legal Cell member Vivek Reddy and Jayanagar MLA B N Vijaykumar states that the BJP has information from credible sources that violence could be triggered in these booths on April 9, the day on which bypoll is scheduled to be held.

The party has listed the names of the 43 polling booths. The petition charges that the ruling Congress has been misusing officials and state police to further its electoral prospects in the constituency.

The BJP has stated that the need to deploy Central forces had become the need of the hour following the surfacing of a video wherein Congress leader Lakshmi Hebbalkar is purportedly seen distributing money to party activists.

A video in this regard had gone viral. But, the visuals did not indicate clearly whether she was distributing money.

 The petition states that BJP general secretary Shobha Karandlaje has lodged a complaint with the local election authorities regarding the Hebbalkar incident on Thursday but no action has been taken so far.